The Minister of the Interior went there this Friday morning. No track is ruled out, “in particular the criminal track”, indicates the parquet floor of Lyon.
At least 10 people died, including four children, in a violent fire this Friday, December 16 in Vaulx-en-Velin, in the eastern suburbs of Lyon, announced the Lyon prosecutor’s office this Sunday, December 18. A previous report from the Rhône prefecture reported 10 victims of 5 minors aged between 3 and 15 years old.
After the fire, there were also four victims in absolute emergency and 15 in a state of relative emergency. The prefecture has activated a departmental operational center as well as the “many victims“.
The judicial police seized, the criminal track envisaged
A criminal investigation was opened by the Lyon public prosecutor’s office and entrusted to the judicial police. For now, no leads have been ruled out, “in particular the criminal track“, indicates the prosecution.
The fire broke out in a seven-story building. According to the firefighters, the flames started from the ground floor to spread upstairs, trapping some of the inhabitants in their homes, while the smoke invaded the common areas. Firefighters rushed to the scene after numerous calls. A security perimeter has been set up. About 165 men were mobilized, as well as 70 machines. The disaster, of which “the origin is unknown» for now, is «now extinct“, said the prefecture in its press release.
Six members of the same family would have defended themselves
Prisoners of the flames, six members of the same family would have defended themselves, according to a police source. A temporary morgue has been installed in an old library.
A resident of the building testified on RTL: “The apartment was totally smoky“. “We started doing things to survive, we tied sheets to try to escape through the window on the fourth floor, we saw that it was risky, others did it and perished“. “We were caught in toxic smoke and we saw ourselves dying“, she continues. Another witness filmed the burning building during the night, reports France 3 Rhone-Alpeswhich streams the video:
Neighbors watched in horror. “My son at three in the morning who heard screams, came to wake me up, I saw everyone disembarking“says the resident of a neighboring building on BFMTV Lyon. “A father shouted: “save my children”it’s dramatic, my legs are shaking“, he continues.
A district undergoing urban renewal
The fire occurred in the Mas du Taureau district, in full urban renewal after having long been the symbol of neighborhoods under tension in the Lyon suburbs. The metropolis had launched in the early 2000s a program of 100 million euros to rethink what was to become an eco-district by developing local shops and public transport.
The mayor of Vaulx-en-Velin, Hélène Geoffroy,very often reports the buildings in his municipality, and in particular in the Mas du Taureau district, which present risks in terms of security“, underlined the deputy LR Alexandre Vincendet in a press release. “This drama should encourage us to be more reactive regarding safety in collective housing“, he added, pleading for a diagnosis of fire risk to be launched on all dwellings reported by local elected officials.
“This is a condominium in which emergency work was carried out in 2019. It is a district undergoing urban renewal in which the city, the State, the metropolis have invested for many years. It is an absolute tragedy, unbearable, but we cannot blame the state of the building at this stage.“Said Minister Olivier Klein, once there.
Gérald Darmanin on site
“It’s a shock, the toll is extremely serious“, reacted the Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin at the start of a press point in Paris on the security device for the final of the World Cup, announcing his arrival in the morning. “The firefighters intervened in 12 minutes and were able to save 15 people at 3am. They were able to save 15 people by taking considerable risks to their own lives, climbing the building from the outside and rescuing children and babies up to the seventh floor“, he said once there.
“The objective now is to find, with the town hall and all the public authorities, rehousing solutions.“, added for his part Olivier Klein.
The mayor of Lyon Grégory Doucet also reacted in a tweet: “Our thoughts go out to the families and loved ones of the victims. I expressed the solidarity of the Lyonnaises and Lyonnais to the mayor Hélène Geoffroy“.
SEE ALSO – Fire in Vaulx-en-Velin: “an extremely serious toll”, confirms Gérald Darmanin