France cake horror
Deadly candle fire
PARIS — A fast-moving fire that appeared to have been ignited by candles on a cake swept through a birthday party in a basement bar in northwest France, killing at least 13 people and injuring six others, authorities said Saturday.
More than 80 firefighters battled the earlySaturday blaze at the downtown Cuba Libre bar in the city of Rouen, Mayor Yvon Robert said, calling the fire “very brief.”
The birthday party was “a moment of joy for those involved that . . . ended tragically,” Robert said.
Vice prosecutor Laurent Labadie told The Associated Press that the first testimonies from survivors and the early police investigation indicated the “fire was completely accidental.”
“There was no explosion,” Labadie said.
“Candles on a birthday cake started the fire after the person who carried it tripped on the stairs leading to the basement.”
Labadie said it’s still unclear how many people were partying at the Cuba Libre club, adding that most of the dead were between 18 and 25 years old. French President François Hollande expressed his “solidarity” with the victims’ families and vowed that the ongoing judicial investigation will shed light on the “the causes of this dramatic accident.” The fire — the deadliest in France since 2005 — came as the country is on maximum terror alert after two deadly attacks last month and was also the second recent tragedy to hit Rouen, a city in Normandy.
A priest was slain by two Islamic State extremists in his church outside Rouen on July 26 and his funeral was held Tuesday in Rouen Cathedral.
An ISIS extremist launched a Bastille Day attack on the promenade in Nice, killing 85 holiday revelers with a truck before being shot dead by police.