PARIS: Ten people have died in a fire that broke out at a residential building near the French city of Lyon on Friday morning, reported the German Press Agency (dpa).
Among the victims were five children, the local prefecture said.
Four people were seriously injured, while 10 sustained light injuries, including two firefighters, it said.
The cause of the fire at the seven-storey apartment building in the Lyon suburb of Vaulx-en-Velin was still unclear.
Some 170 firefighters were deployed to the scene after the fire was reported shortly after 3 am.
A fire brigade spokesperson told French broadcaster BFMTV that the fire broke out on the ground floor of the block of flats located in a housing estate and spread to the third floor from there.
It was a complicated operation and the number of victims could possibly increase, the spokesperson said, adding that the smoke made it difficult to rescue the residents.
However, the fire has been extinguished, he said. - Bernama
