Police Suspect Mad Woman Set Paris Apartment on Fire Killing 10 …Casualty Figure Rising

Matilda Omonaiye/

A mentally-challenged woman has been arrested by the police in France on suspicion that she set an 8-storey apartment building on fire killing 10 people including a baby in south-western Paris.

Scores of victims were injured as firefighters fought all day and evacuated 50 residents with ladders as the blaze was raging in the upmarket 16^th arrondissement.

A report says more than 30 people – including six firefighters – were injured. One person is in a serious condition.

Fire investigators suspect that the arrested woman deliberately set the house on fire.

Police, however, say that the suspect is no longer being questioned after undergoing medical and behavioural tests. She has been admitted to the psychiatric infirmary of the Paris police, media reports quote the Paris prosecutor as saying.

Earlier, French President Emmanuel Macron said the country “had woken up to tragedy”, and praised the fire services for their courage.