7 People Died In Fire At French Nice Apartments Suspected Of Murder

ILLUSTRATION OF UNSPLASH/Robert Darkness

Seven people, including three children and their mother, died in a fire on the 7th floor of an apartment in Nice, Paris. Authorities suspect the fire was intentional.

French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal, who traveled to the area, said the investigation found a bright spot and a search for three people had been carried out.

But Attal did not provide further details.

The fire started to burn at around 03.00, Thursday, July 18 in the morning and spread so quickly throughout the apartment that only people near the window could be saved.

The fire killed one man, a teenager, two women and three children. One of the victims jumped through a window tied to a rope to the bed.

"The mother of the family went to take her children to a safe place beside the window and then returned to the fire to save her three young children and never came back," Hugues Moutouh, a local representative from the interior ministry told BFM TV station.

City prosecutor Damien Martinelli opened an investigation into a possible intentional and criminally motivated fire.

"I have to give more factors in the investigation later, but we started with burning," he said.

Mayor Christian Estrosi said people wearing balclava were seen in CCTV footage in the area.

The building is located in the Moulins neighborhood, an unmaintained social housing area, similar to many banlieues or suburbs in France.