Ten dead, including five children, and 19 injured, four of them between life and death.

A "terrifying" fire ravaged a building in Vaulx-en-Velin, overnight from Thursday to Friday, causing shock and anger in this popular town north-east of Lyon.

"Without the speed of the firefighters and their heroism, there would have been an even more dramatic toll," said Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin, who rushed to the scene with Housing Minister Olivier Klein.

The point in pictures.


Directed by:

Olivier JUSZCZAK

  • The fire broke out shortly after 3 a.m. in the seven-storey building and mobilized nearly 170 firefighters and 65 vehicles, according to the prefecture.

  • A large security perimeter was deployed in the city located in a district undergoing urban renewal, and the emergency services were busy on the spot in a ballet of ambulances, trucks and flashing lights.

  • With ten dead, including five children aged 3 to 15, and four people seriously injured in the night from Thursday to Friday, the toll is terrible and the emotion very strong in the Mas du Taureau district.

  • The flames spread from the ground floor to the floors, according to the firefighters.

  • Residents trapped in the flames rushed into the void, a mother even throwing her ten-year-old son from the top of her balcony to save him.

  • "It was appalling," Mohamed, the cousin of a fourth-floor resident who managed to escape down the stairs with his two children, told AFP.

  • In front of the seven-storey building at 12 chemin des Barques, many residents rushed to the police cordon early Friday, not hiding their anguish over the fate of relatives or friends.

  • The facade of the white building, barely darkened, does not betray the drama that occurred during the night.

  • The firefighters intervened quickly but without being able to prevent the irreparable.

  • The authorities evacuated the victims to a municipal hall and began to look for alternative accommodation.

  • The victim identification process was still ongoing at midday.

  • The Lyon prosecutor's office has opened an investigation to determine the causes of this "dramatic" fire, specifying that it does not rule out any hypothesis, "in particular the criminal track".

  • “Without the speed of the firefighters and their heroism, there would have been an even more dramatic toll,” said Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin, who rushed to the spot with Housing Minister Olivier Klein.

    The emergency services "were able to save 15 people by taking considerable risks for their own lives, by climbing the building from the outside because you could not enter from the inside and by saving children, babies up to the 7th floor “, he detailed.

    He recalled that the origin of the fire was still unknown, stressing that there were "many hypotheses and testimonies".

  • Slideshow

  • Miscellaneous facts

  • Gerald Darmanin

  • Fire

  • Vaulx-en-velin