Vaulx-en-Velin: Ten dead including five children in French apartment building fire near Lyon

Five children are among 10 people to have died in a fire in an apartment building outside the French city of Lyon.
By Stephen Mcilkenny
Published 16th Dec 2022, 08:59 BST
Updated 16th Dec 2022, 09:16 BST

The cause of the blaze is being investigated after officials released a statement saying a "sizeable fire" broke out in a seven-storey block of flats in Vaulx-en-Velin.

An Associated Press reporter at the scene saw several fire engines and a security perimeter set up around the area, and residents and traumatised neighbours assembling in a car park opposite the building.

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Olivier Klein, the minister delegate of cities and housing for the Borne region, tweeted on Friday morning: "The provisional tally sends chills down your spine."

Firefighter stands near ambulance trucks next to apartment buildings seen in background at Le Mas du Taureau neighborhood, in Vauls en Velin, outside Lyon, central France, Friday, Dec. 16, 2022. French authorities say 10 people including five children died in a fire in an apartment building outside the city of Lyon. The cause of the fire is being investigated. (AP Photo/Laurent Cipriani)Firefighter stands near ambulance trucks next to apartment buildings seen in background at Le Mas du Taureau neighborhood, in Vauls en Velin, outside Lyon, central France, Friday, Dec. 16, 2022. French authorities say 10 people including five children died in a fire in an apartment building outside the city of Lyon. The cause of the fire is being investigated. (AP Photo/Laurent Cipriani)
Firefighter stands near ambulance trucks next to apartment buildings seen in background at Le Mas du Taureau neighborhood, in Vauls en Velin, outside Lyon, central France, Friday, Dec. 16, 2022. French authorities say 10 people including five children died in a fire in an apartment building outside the city of Lyon. The cause of the fire is being investigated. (AP Photo/Laurent Cipriani)

The minister of the interior, Gerard Darmanin, said the cause of the fire is still unknown and praised firefighters who responded to the call and rescued people in "extremely difficult conditions".

Darmanin added that the children who died were all aged between three and 15.The prefecture for the Rhone region said 14 people were injured in the fire, four of them seriously.

It said 170 firefighters were sent to the scene.

A local resident told Le Progres de Lyon newspaper: "I was awakened by the screams... We wanted to help people but the smoke was too heavy. I saw a dead woman... It's dramatic."

Firefighters walk in the Mas-Du-Taureau neighbourhood where a fire caused many victims, in Vaulx-en-Velin, east of Lyon, south-eastern France, on December 16, 2022. -Firefighters walk in the Mas-Du-Taureau neighbourhood where a fire caused many victims, in Vaulx-en-Velin, east of Lyon, south-eastern France, on December 16, 2022. -
Firefighters walk in the Mas-Du-Taureau neighbourhood where a fire caused many victims, in Vaulx-en-Velin, east of Lyon, south-eastern France, on December 16, 2022. -

Another neighbour said: "I told my kid not to go to school, he's shocked. It traumatised him to hear screams like that, screams of horror. My legs are shaking."

The block of flats where the fire broke out is part of a housing project in the Lyon suburbs. Vaulx-en-Velin, a town of 43,000 inhabitants, is among the most impoverished areas in the Rhone region.

Two firefighters are among those believed to be injured in the fire that broke out in the early hours of the morning.

It is the deadliest fire in France since 2019 when an arson attack in an upmarket Paris district killed 10 people and injured 32 others.

This story will be updated throughout the course of the day.