A fire in a residential building left seven dead on the night of Wednesday to Thursday July 18 in Nice, firefighters announced. “Three children and a teenager” were among the victims, said city prosecutor Damien Martinelli. One person was also taken to hospital “absolute emergency” in hospital and two others hospitalized in “relative urgency”according to the firefighters. Follow our live feed.
The “criminal” track is favored. An investigation has been opened for arson leading to death, according to the public prosecutor, who specifies that criminal investigation is being favored. Questioned on the matter on BFMTV, the prefect of the Alpes-Maritimes Hugues Moutouh specified that the start of the fire seems ““probably” not having left from the seventh floor, but “lower”.
Update on the victims’ profile. At this stage, seven people have died, all living in the same apartment, according to the details given by the prefecture. They are two women, a man, a teenager and three children. The seventh person died after jumping out of a window, according to the prefecture.
Five lives saved, according to firefighters. “We really saved five lives (…) The toll could have been much more serious,” said the director of the SDIS of the Alpes-Maritimes, René Diesle, speaking to BFMTV. I want to pay tribute to the firefighters who intervened within ten minutes,” also greeted the city’s mayor Christian Estrosi on France Bleu Azur.
The fire broke out in a working-class neighborhood. The fire ravaged the seventh floor of a building in the Moulins district, a working-class area of the city of Nice.
Significant resources deployed. Significant resources were deployed. The firefighters carried out “three ladder rescues” aerial and “33 safety measures” of people. In total, 25 vehicles and 72 firefighters were deployed to fight the disaster.