One person died and four others were injured, including two seriously, in the fire in a building squatted by some 80 occupants, during the night from Monday to Tuesday in Caluire-et-Cuire (Rhône), near Lyon, we learned from the City of Lyon, owner of the building, and the public prosecutor's office.
The body of a woman was found in the rubble on Tuesday during the day, Lyon public prosecutor Thierry Dran told AFP, who opened an investigation to “search for the causes of death”. Four other injured people, including two in absolute emergency, were evacuated during the night by emergency services.
The fire, the origin of which is unknown, broke out around 1 a.m. Some 140 firefighters were mobilized to bring the disaster under control around 3:30 a.m., according to the Rhône prefecture, which added that nearly 50 occupants of the premises had been taken care of and examined by the emergency services.
The burned building was “occupied since October 2023 by around 80 people, the majority of whom came from the evacuation of the squat Pyramide in the 7th arrondissement” of Lyon, the City of Lyon specified in its press release.
The right-wing opposition to the Metropolis of Lyon denounced in a press release “a tragedy that could have been avoided”. “The City of Lyon, owner of the building, allowed this dangerous occupation to take place” and “refused to request the eviction” of the occupants, she wrote.
According to her, the mayor of Caluire-et-Cuire had issued an order in November 2023 prohibiting the occupation of the premises “which explicitly warned against the risks of fire linked to electrical connections, which was surprisingly canceled by the administrative court of Lyon,” according to the press release.
