8 die in Paris apartment block fire

PARIS: A fire in an apartment building in northern Paris early Wednesday that killed eight people, including two children, might have been started intentionally, officials said.
The blaze in the 18th district of the French capital, at the foot of the Montmartre hill and its tourist attractions, took more than 100 firefighters to contain it.
Criminal investigators have taken over the probe after it emerged the fire — the deadliest in Paris since 2005 — broke out in two separate places in the building.
Tissem Ferjani, a pastry chef who lives on the same road, said she had seen “lifeless bodies on the ground” after residents had jumped in a desperate effort to escape the raging flames.
“I was woken up around 4:00 a.m. by people screaming for help. They had no choice — either they stayed where they were and died or they got out through the window and they fell.
“Everyone in the district came out to try to help them.”
Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve told Europe 1 radio that authorities were “focusing on the possibility of criminal intent.”