One dead in fire at migrant workers centre near Paris

PARIS: A fire swept through a centre for migrant workers near Paris early on Friday, killing one person and injuring several, and French police said they were not discounting the possibility that arsonists caused the blaze.

The fire broke out in the reception hall of the six-storey building at Boulogne-Billancourt that houses around 300 people. Firefighters who reached the scene in the early hours said they rescued six people who would otherwise have died.



Sixteen people were injured in all, three of them seriously because they had jumped from the building to escape the fumes. One person died later, according to police. A police source said traces of flammable material had been found at the scene and criminal action had not been ruled out.

France and other European Union countries have struggled to come to grips with a record influx since early 2015 of migrants fleeing conflict and poverty in Asia, Africa and the Middle East, and violence against asylum seekers has increased.