Daily Star

2 teens held over French holiday fires

BRITS FLEE RIVIERA HELL

- By MARC WALKER marc.walker@dailystar.co.uk

TWO teenagers were being quizzed last night over deadly fires sweeping across the French Riviera.

The boys, both aged 16, were in custody in Martigues near Marseille as the devastatin­g blazes were officially blamed on “criminal activity”.

About 10,000 people, including many British holidaymak­ers, have been evacuated, with tourists left to bed down each night on the beach. Others have continued to sunbathe and swim in the sea while flames crackle and smoke billows from the wooded hills that surround the sands.

The teens seized by police are accused of setting parched shrubland ablaze on Tuesday, sparking an inferno that has engulfed 15 square miles of countrysid­e.

Provence council chief Renaud Muselier said many of the fires were “of criminal origin” and the “activity of arsonists”. Tearful local Marion Manent, whose caravan holiday homes were among 200 burned in La Londe-les-Maures, said bitterly: “Someone is certainly responsibl­e”.

French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe warned there would be more fires and said an investigat­ion had been launched.

The area is tinder dry and a single match or cigarette could spark a blaze.

Fires began raging along the coast on Monday.

Around 4,000 emergency workers have battled the flames, with at least 20 firefighte­rs suffering injuries.

The Foreign Office is advising stranded Brits to follow the advice of the French authoritie­s.

Veteran British actress Dame Joan Collins, 84, who has a home in St Tropez, has been caught up in the catastroph­e and described it as a “nightmare”.

 ??  ?? HOLIDAY SMOKE: View from the beach at Bormes-les-Mimosas on which, left, people camped overnight
HOLIDAY SMOKE: View from the beach at Bormes-les-Mimosas on which, left, people camped overnight
 ??  ?? INFERNO: Plumes over Bormes-Les-Mimosas
INFERNO: Plumes over Bormes-Les-Mimosas

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