Three Nigerian migrants have died after they jumped out of
windows of a public house building to escape a fire in the
southern French city of Marseille.

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The incident happened shortly after 5 a.m on Saturday, July
17, when a fire broke out of the building in the housing
estate "Les Flamants" where migrants from Nigeria are
known to squat.


A two-year-old and an adult were also seriously hurt in the
blaze inside the ten-floor building, Marseille public
prosecutor, Dominique Laurens, said. The child was very seriously burned. Nine other people reportedly sustained less serious injuries. The three victims, aged 20 to 30, apparently desperate amid the flames spreading in the building, jumped out of windows.


Knotted bed sheets hanging from the facade indicated how
desperate the victims had become on noticing the
fire, according to the AFP news agency.
Speaking during a press briefing, Laurens said the fire
spread quickly through the technical shafts, but did not
reach the apartments which are "free of smoke penetration,"
suggesting the blaze was started deliberately.


"The existence of two fires, one on the sixth floor, the other
in the stairwell" prompted investigators to launch a criminal
investigation," the public prosecutor added.
Meanwhile, the Nigerian community of Marseille accused
drug dealers of causing the tragedy.
"The dealers terrify us. They have guns. They prevent us
from sleeping," Azeke Endurance, 30, told AFP .


According to the police chief, Frederique Camilleri, there
indeed is "a notorious degree of drug dealing here" as well
as "tensions between the inhabitants and the traffickers."
Echoing Camilleri's statement, the public prosecutor, also
described the situation on the ground as extremely tense,
adding that the prices of drugs are written on the walls in
the stairwell of the building.


A 31-year-old Nigerian man had been living there for a year
with his wife, now six months pregnant. Every month, the
couple had to pay illegal rent to drug dealers who deal in the
building.
"Sometimes they would hit my wife because they came to
collect the money. Sometimes they would take €200,
sometimes €300," the asylum seeker told France Bleu radio
network.
"If you tell them you don't have money, they hit you several
times." The man has decided to sleep in the streets with his
pregnant wife where it's "less dangerous than the squat."
The dilapidation of the building, which was set to be
demolished, is apparent.


Lionel Royer-Perreault, president of public housing
management company Habitat 13, which owns the building,
said the structure was on a list to eventually be demolished.
According to a statement by Marseille's city hall, "91 people,
including 28 women and 27 children, were taken by
municipal services to two gymnasiums for emergency
shelter" on Saturday evening.


The officials called on the state to offer dignified
accommodation to all affected people.
"If the cause of the fire has yet to be determined...what is
clear is that the unlivable situation of the squatters here and
elsewhere in Marseille's public housing blocs creates a
dangerous situation and serious risk for everyone," said
Samia Ghali, Marseille deputy mayor.


Marseille politicians faced accusations of ignoring warnings
about unsafe housing in 2018, when eight people were killed
when two buildings collapsed in the center of the port
city, AFP reported.
Credit: LindaIkejiBlog

Too bad

too bad, why must it always be Nigerians...

Why didn't one of the black people watching them turn to super hero and save them like they do if those in distress are white?
Bunch of self hating animals

RIP