Sunday, August 7, 2016

fatal fire in Rouen: the investigation continues – The Point

The investigation is ongoing to understand how a fire caused by banal birthday candles could do 13 dead in the night from Friday to Saturday in Rouen bar, where the tributes to the victims multiply.

This is the deadliest fire in France since 2005.

According to the deputy prosecutor of Rouen, Lawrence Labadie, victims, mostly aged 18 to 25 , who were attending a birthday in the basement bar “at Cuba Libre” have all been identified. Among the six injured, a woman, badly burned, was transferred to the Saint-Louis Hospital in Paris, serving the burn. “His prognosis is still committed,” he said Saturday night.

The five injured were hospitalized at the University Hospital of Rouen but are out, according to Yvon Robert, the PS mayor city.

According to a police source, the person who’s birthday was a former assistant police security, born in Mont-Saint-Aignan, north of Rouen, but it has not exercised this feature very long. She is one of 13 victims of the disaster.

Another victim is a girl of 18, who had just had her tray and dreamed of becoming a nurse, found her mother in tears near the scene of the tragedy.

the autopsy of the victims will be held during the next week and will take several days, according to Mr. Labadie.

on Saturday, around what remains of the red front and partially burned and destroyed the orange bar, a perimeter made up of metal barriers were erected. The window was destroyed and the store burned. Several anonymous filed or bouquets of roses.

After several members of the government, President Francois Hollande expressed in a statement of “solidarity and sympathy to the families” of the victims. “Everything will be done as part of the judicial investigation in progress to know the causes of this tragic accident.”

The fire broke out around midnight in a room in the basement of the establishment. “I was at the bar, on the ground floor, taking a drink we saw the flames. It was like a flamethrower, everything was very fast,” testified Stephanie, 36 years.

– “a narrow staircase and steep” –

According to the first elements of the investigation, “someone came down with a birthday cake with candles and fell on the stairs, “said the deputy prosecutor told AFP. “There were candles projection on the walls and on the ceiling, on which there was a sound insulator. There was an immediate ignition and spread of gas,” he added.

All the witnesses have been heard Saturday, some being very shocked. A medico-psychological support unit was set up.

The investigation for “research of the causes of death” will have to confirm the scenario and will focus in particular on compliance with safety standards.

A fire expert was requested by prosecutors and made his first observations in the afternoon. “Once the written report, we will see if there are things wrong with the bar manager or building owner,” said Mr. Labadie.

The expert will also ” shed light on the propagation conditions “flames and smoke” as it prevented people from getting out “of the basement. A room designed with “a narrow and steep staircase,” he explained, when asked in the afternoon on the aspect of “mousetrap” of the place

-. “A tragedy” –

firefighters, contacted at 0:20, “arrived quickly,” according to the prefecture. A passerby, Said Ould Amar, 40, saw the “coming out the body every 2 minutes. On the other side of the avenue (Jacques Cartier Ed), they had created a space for the wounded.”

the mayor of Rouen Yvon Robert, this drama is “a tragedy”. His city was hit almost there less than two weeks by the murder of the priest of Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray by two jihadists. The Hamel father funeral was held Tuesday at the Cathedral of Rouen.

There was no fire as deadly in France since 2005. In April this year, 24 people, including 11 children, were killed in the hotel Paris-Opera, an emergency accommodation hotel. Five months later, 18 people were killed in that of an apartment building in L’Hay-les-Roses (Val de Marne).

No fire had as many victims a bar / dance club since 1 November 1970: 146 people died in the Saint-Laurent-du Pont (Isère)

07/08/2016 7:31:41 – Rouen (AFP). – AFP © 2016

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