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France opens manslaughter probe into holiday home blaze

French prosecutors said on Friday they had opened a manslaughter investigation into the death of 11 people in a fire in a holiday home which failed to meet safety standards.

France opens manslaughter probe into holiday home blaze
French gendarmes and forensics work on Thursday at the holiday home for disabled people in eastern France that caught fire (Photo by Sebastien BOZON / AFP)

Wednesday’s fire, near Colmar in eastern France, was the deadliest such disaster in the country since a blaze in a bar in the northern city of Rouen in 2016 killed 14 people.

The home was unlicenced and flouting fire security standards required for hosting guests, according to local officials.

Friday’s statement said that the case had been taken over by Paris prosecutors who were investigating for “involuntary manslaughter and grievous bodily harm”.

The property was hosting a group of adults with learning disabilities and their companions at the peak of the French summer holiday season in the picturesque area.

The guests on the lower floor of the timbered residence all managed to escape alive, but those on the upper floor found themselves trapped.

The probe announced Friday is to “determine the precise causes of the fire, and any criminal liability”, the statement said.

President Emmanuel Macron called the deaths a “tragedy” this week, while Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne vowed that “all light” would be shed on what she described as an “appalling” disaster.

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CRIME

Teens charged in France over plot to attack Jewish targets: judicial source

French prosecutors have charged a 19-year-old man and a youth in the Paris region with planning a "terrorist" attack on Jewish targets, a judicial source told AFP on Friday.

Teens charged in France over plot to attack Jewish targets: judicial source

While no details on the pair have been released, French anti-terrorist investigators have expressed increased concern over the young age of some suspects detained in recent months for planning militant attacks.

The 19-year-old has been charged with “terrorist conspiracy” to commit attacks and the “acquisition and possession of arms for a terrorist enterprise,” said the judicial source, speaking on condition of anonymity.

READ ALSO: Anti-Semitism fears stalk Jewish voters’ choice in France

The youth aged under 18 was detained on June 13, the source said.

The pair made contact on social media and were planning a “a violent action notably aiming at Jewish targets,” said the source without giving details on the plot.

Anti-terrorism investigators say a growing number of youths have been held in recent months for preparing attacks.

READ ALSO: French election breakdown: TV debates, polling latest and anti-Semitism

“This is a necessarily worrying phenomenon,” senior anti-terrorist prosecutor Olivier Christen said at an evidentiary hearing on Wednesday.

French politicians have also condemned a growing number of attacks on the country’s Jewish community, the biggest outside Israel and the United States.

Outrage has been expressed over the rape of a 12-year-old Jewish girl in a park in the Paris suburbs last Saturday. Two 13-year-old boys have been charged with rape and making anti-Semitic insults.

Several protest rallies have been held in Paris and other French cities over the case which comes as France prepares for a national election in which the far-right National Rally party is tipped to make major gains. 

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