14 die after new suspected arson in fire-struck Paris

A FIRE started by a suspected arson attack ripped through a high-rise apartment building south of Paris early yesterday killing at least 14 people, three of them children.

Firefighters quickly extinguished the blaze the fourth fire in or near the capital since April and most victims died as a result of inhaling toxic smoke while trying to flee, officials said.

Some 15 others were injured in the blaze in the town of L'Hay-les-Roses in the Val-de-Marne region south of Paris.