Man arrested after 8 die in paris fire

French police arrested a man Wednesday after eight people, including two children, were killed in a fire in a Paris apartment building that investigators believe may have been started deliberately. Terrified residents jumped out of windows as flames engulfed the block in an immigrant area of the 18th district of the French capital, at the foot of the Montmartre hill and its tourist attractions.

I was woken up around 4:00 am by people screaming for help. They had no choice – either they stayed where they were and died or they got out through the window and they fell. Everyone in the district came out to try to help them.

Tissem Ferjani, a pastry chef who lives on the same road.

The fire – the deadliest in Paris since 2005 – quickly became a criminal investigation after it emerged firefighters had been called out twice to the same building, two hours apart. Police arrested a man in his 30s after studying CCTV footage. The arrest was made after investigators studied CCTV footage. Investigators said a man was seen running away from the building after the blaze.

Nothing has been proven yet so we have to be cautious, but for the moment that (criminal intent) is the line of investigation that is being looked at very closely.

Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve