Deadly hotel blaze in Paris

At least 13 people including several children have died in a fire at a hotel in Paris. Around 15 people were taken to hospital with burns and other injuries. Some had jumped from windows to escape the flames. Some fifty others suffered slight injuries. The blaze broke out in the early hours of this morning at the Paris-Opera hotel in a commercial district in the north of the French capital.

It is not known how it started. “We know the fire began on one of the lower floors,” an emergency services spokesman said. “The staircase acted as a kind of chimney, trapping people on the floors above.” More than 250 firefighters were deployed. They brought the flames under control at around five o clock this morning. Several foreigners, including Americans and Africans are said to be among the victims.

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