Jean-Luc Boujon (in Vaulx-en-Velin) with AFP, edited by Laura Laplaud
A violent fire that spread through the floors of a building in Vaulx-en-Velin, in the north-eastern suburbs of Lyon, left ten dead, including five children, and 19 injured, including “four in absolute emergency “, on the night of Thursday to Friday, according to the latest official report. “When I stopped, I got a little closer to the fire, I heard people screaming for help,” says Assed at the microphone of Europe 1, a resident of the district, who arrived on the spot during the fire.
“We saw a lot of smoke, we saw the bodies on the ground… A woman stood on a balcony and threw her 10-year-old son so that my friends could pick him up. They managed to pick him up. When they turned around, the mother collapsed in front of them, she succumbed to her injuries,” he continued.
170 firefighters, 65 vehicles…
The fire broke out around 2:30 am, on the ground floor of this seven-storey building, probably in the lobby of this building. The fire spread extremely quickly to the floors, which resulted in very difficult scenes. Dozens of residents were still able to escape the flames, either by their own means or rescued by the firefighters who arrived in large numbers. 170 men, 65 vehicles, firefighters who were able to save 15 people, including children and babies.
At this time, no lead has been ruled out because the investigation has only just begun. “I think it’s still too early, there are a lot of hypotheses, there are a lot of testimonies. I trust the firefighters and I trust the judicial police who seized the public prosecutor. In the two and a half years that I have been Minister of the Interior, I have always noticed that the fire investigations have been resolved. So, if you leave the judicial investigations department for a few hours, a few days, the prosecutor will communicate on the reasons direct and indirect consequences of this terrible fire”, declared the Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin on the spot.
A serious lead studied by the investigators
According to a number of local residents, young people used to squat in the hall of this building, which, it seems, was a regular deal point in this Mas du Taureau district. They had obviously installed a sofa, mattresses and spent a lot of time eating and smoking, report these inhabitants. The hypothesis that this sofa or these mattresses could have caught fire is a serious lead, studied by the investigators, in particular by those of the scientific police who have been hard at work since this morning.