A minute of silence was also observed in memory of the ten people who died in the fire which broke out last Friday.
SourceAFP
© OLIVIER CHASSIGNOLE / AFP
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Emotion and tribute to the victims in Vaulx-en-Velin this Thursday. A white march brought together some 200 people in Vaulx-en-Velin, six days after the fire which killed 10 people in the Mas du Taur district. Relatives and neighbors of bereaved families marched with white balloons, before stopping in front of the damaged building to lay flowers and observe a minute of silence.
The fire, in which six adults and four children died, occurred at 3 a.m. in this seven-storey building, in a working-class district undergoing urban renewal. Several witnesses denounced in the media the dilapidated condition of the premises, the lack of fire-fighting devices and the presence of a deal point. The investigation is still ongoing to determine the causes of the fire which prompted several residents to jump into the void to escape the flames.
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A dangerous building for its inhabitants
The Le Rhône residence, comprising 107 apartments in 3 buildings, was to be renovated as part of a safeguard plan launched in 2018 for a dozen dilapidated condominiums in the district, according to information available on the town hall website.
Studies carried out in this residence had “highlighted many technical and financial difficulties reflecting disorders on the equipment (elevators), water and electricity networks, which could raise the question of the safety of the inhabitants, in particular in the event of fire,” according to a December 2019 municipal minutes.
The socialist mayor of Vaulx-en-Velin, Hélène Geoffroy, deplored the “four-year” delay between obtaining funding and the start of renovation work. During a meeting with Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne in Matignon, she also pleaded for the government to launch a reflection on the support of “modest” co-owners who “sometimes encounter difficulties in maintaining and paying the charges”.