Mother and child leap from hotel's roof as Paris fire kills 15

A MOTHER and her young child jumped from the top of a burning six- storey hotel in Paris this morning.

The pair - unconscious and clearly badly injured were among those who tried to leap to safety at the height of the fire at the Paris Opera hotel in which at least 15 people died.

"They were screaming and had no other option but to jump out a window," said Charib San, who lives opposite the popular tourist hotel.

Grimacing, he said there had been a "loud noise" as they hit the pavement with a thud.

Others had tried the same escape route. Bodies lay all over the the Rue de Provence - all men, women and children who had tried to get away from the intense heat and chocking black smoke.

San said he first heard the cries of "Fire! Fire!" around 3.30am, a time when the surrounding boulevards are usually silent. The cracking of flames and falling masonry were soon accompanied by dozens of sirens as 50 fire engines arrived on the scene.

Within minutes the Galeries Lafayette luxury department store, just two minutes from the hotel, was being used as a makeshift hospital to treat more than 50 casualties.

Survivors coughed and spluttered as medical workers treated their burns in the opulent surroundings.

Meanwhile, at least 250 firefighters battled to rescue survivors left inside. San said he saw at least one child being dragged out, while a handful of adults scrambled down ladders to be wrapped in emergency blankets and led to safety.

San said he spoke to Australians, Canadians and Tunisians who escaped the fire. A woman who works in a nearby hotel brought out a ladder and they used it to rescue a girl from the first floor, he said.

Many others were not so lucky. Fire chiefs believed there may be up to 80 people in the recently renovated budget hotel and, as the death toll reached 13, many were still unaccounted for.

Many were tourists from all over Europe attracted by the one- star Paris-Opera's convenient location in the heart of the capital's 9th district.

Others were locals using the hotel before being moved to subsidised housing.

As firefighters doused the smouldering wreckage this morning, antiterrorist officers were among those preparing to inspect the scene. "There will, of course, be a full investigation," said an officer.

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