Arson blamed as new Paris fire kills 14

Fourteen people including two children were killed and more than 30 injured in an apartment block fire in a southern Paris suburb early yesterday -- the third fatal fire to hit the French capital in nine days.

The blaze broke out at around 1.00 a.m. (1200 GMT) in the hall of an 18-storey highrise containing some 110 local authority flats at L'Hay-les-Roses near Orly airport. The casualties -- including 13 who were seriously injured -- were all caused by smoke inhalation.

Police said the origin of the fire appeared to be criminal, and they played down any similarity with the fires on August 26 and 29 which killed 24 African immigrants in two dilapidated Paris squats.

"This is a block of flats. It's got nothing to do with the fires in the Paris squats," said fire-service spokesman Michel Cros.

Four people were being questioned by police Sunday morning though they were not believed to be suspects. Local residents said that vandals had been spotted setting light to letter-boxes on the ground floor of the highrise.