Paris hotel fire called accidental At least 20 dead, 53 injured in one of city's worst blazes

PARIS -- Searing flames and thick smoke sent people jumping fromwindows of an overcrowded budget hotel before dawn Friday in one ofthe worst fires in recent memory in the French capital. At least 20people were killed -- half of them children and many Africanimmigrants and other people without means lodged there byauthorities.

The six-story Paris Opera hotel, with 32 rooms and a single exit,was packed when the fire broke out at 2:20 a.m. The only way out wasa stairwell choked with thick black smoke and flames.

Alfred Millot, who heads the fire prevention team at a chicdepartment store across the street, Galeries Lafayette, was among thefirst on the scene. The department store was temporarily used tostore victims' bodies.

"There were about 10 people that I saw dangling from differentwindows," Millot said. "It was a very dramatic situation."

Chakib San, who lives in an adjacent building, said he wasawakened by cries of "Fire! Fire!" and saw three people jump,including a woman and a child who lay motionless after hitting theground.

"They were on the ground. They weren't moving," he said. "Everyonewas screaming. There were bodies in the road."

A 'painful' catastrophe

The prosecutor's office opened an investigation, judicialofficials said, though "at this stage, we have no indication that itwas anything but an accident," Interior Minister Dominique deVillepin said.

President Jacques Chirac labeled the fire one of Paris' "mostpainful catastrophes."

Fifty-three people were injured, 11 seriously. Police did notrelease the identities or nationalities of the dead. The injured camefrom France, Senegal, Portugal, Ivory Coast, Tunisia, Ukraine andAlgeria, police said.

A Canadian also was slightly injured, but was released afterhospital treatment, said Canadian Embassy spokesman Normand Smith.U.S. Embassy Consul General Donald Wells said three Americans ofstudent-age were staying at the hotel but were uninjured.

Ninety people were staying in the hotel, which was built to hold61 guests, authorities said. It is located in the 9th district, apopular tourist area. Most were needy families, many from Africa,placed by social services. AP