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Huge fire destroys warehouse at giant Paris market

A major blaze swept through part of one of the world's biggest fresh produce markets on the outskirts of Paris on Sunday. 

Published: 26 September 2022 08:44 CEST
Huge fire destroys warehouse at giant Paris market
Smoke from the blaze at the Marche d'Interet National (MIN) in Rungis, greater Paris, could be seen from several kilometres away. Photo by Aurore MESENGE / AFP

 The fire destroyed a fruit and vegetable warehouse at the Rungis complex to the south of the French capital.

Flames spread shortly after noon, the authorities said, sending a dark plume of smoke billowing over the southern suburbs.

A hundred firefighters brought the fire under control by mid-afternoon and there were no injuries, the fire brigade said.

The warehouse, about the size of a football pitch, belonged to Les Halles Mandar group.

Firefighters work to put out a fire in a building at the “Rungis International Market” wholesale food market in Rungis, south of Paris. Photo by Christophe ARCHAMBAULT / AFP

“It’s a shock, but we’re glad there were no injuries”, boss Shaoul Abramczyk said.

“We will not be able to fulfil our partners’ orders from Monday and for several days”, he added.

“When a market operator is the victim of a tragedy of this nature, the whole market is struck at its heart”, Rungis market head Stephane Layani said.
 

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PARIS

Four killed in two Paris apartment fires

At least four people were killed in apartment building fires that broke out overnight in two separate Paris neighbourhoods, police sources and prosecutors said on Tuesday.

Published: 30 April 2024 12:18 CEST
Four killed in two Paris apartment fires

Three bodies were found soon after 8am in a seventh-floor flat near the Opera Garnier in the centre of the French capital. The blaze on the Boulevard des Italiens is believed to have started between 4am and 5am.

Those killed “couldn’t get out of the window because of bars installed to prevent burglars getting in via the roof,” said Ariel Weil, mayor of the city’s four central districts.

“Around 10 people living on the same floor were rescued by firefighters who got in through the roof,” he added.

Weil and a police source said investigators were looking into whether the fire could have started with a gas leak.

ANALYSIS Why do Paris apartment fires so often prove fatal?

Several firefighting vehicles were still on the scene by late morning, an AFP journalist saw, while central Paris prosecutors have opened an investigation.

Prosecutors are also probing a second deadly fire in the 15th district, near the Eiffel Tower in western Paris.

“A 60-year-old person was found dead and another is in critical condition, with two in serious condition,” investigators said.

A second police source said a woman had been killed after the fire apparently broke out in her apartment.

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