Jean-Luc Boujon, edited by Yanis Darras 9 p.m., December 16, 2022
At least ten people lost their lives in a fire in a building in Vaulx-en-Velin, near Lyon.
For the time being, the investigators are not favoring any leads.
The building, often squatted by dealers, was also dilapidated.
A renovation plan was to take place in the coming weeks.
"It's a terrible tragedy."
The words of the town hall of Vaulx-en-Velin in the Rhône resonate through the news this Friday, when a fire broke out in a building in the city, killing at least ten people, including five children.
For the moment, it is impossible to know what is the origin of the fire.
The only element in the possession of the investigators: the fire broke out during the night of Thursday to Friday, between 2 a.m. and 2:30 a.m. in the hall of the building or in a technical room on the ground floor of the building.
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The flames then spread to upper floors, leaving no way out for residents.
"While I was sleeping, I smelled the smell of smoke. I woke up suddenly, I opened the kitchen window and that's when I saw the flames", explains at the microphone of Europe 1 Youssouf, 22, who lives on the sixth floor of the building.
“I trust the firefighters”
"Everyone was screaming," recalls the young man.
"There is even a mother who jumped from her balcony. People were banging on the windows to break them. I tried to go down the stairs, but on the second floor, everything was burning. Really without the firefighters, I would be dead," he said.
Youssouf, 22, managed to save his cat from the fire.
Image credits: Jean-Luc Boujon
The young man, accompanied by his father, his brother and his cat, were saved by the firefighters.
Courageous men warmly thanked by the Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin.
The time is now to understand how such a tragedy could have happened, notes the latter.
"I trust the firefighters and I trust the judicial police who seized the public prosecutor", to find the reasons for the departure of the flames.
"In the two and a half years that I have been inside, I have always seen that the fire investigations have found a resolution. So, if you give the judicial investigation service a few days, the prosecutor will communicate on the direct and indirect reasons. of this terrible fire", he concluded in front of the journalists.
Nearly 40 families to be rehoused urgently
If all the hypotheses remain valid, the inhabitants report to Europe 1 that the hall of the building had become a regular deal point.
Young people, who squatted there very often, terrorizing the inhabitants, had even installed a sofa and mattresses for eating, drinking or smoking during the day, in the evening and even at night.
However, there is no question of dismissing the idea of a technical failure.
The dilapidated building, in particular its electrical network, had been the subject of a safeguard plan for several months which should lead to its renovation.
This Friday evening, about 40 families who lived there, or about 100 people who survived the fire, must be relocated urgently.