PARIS — Four people were killed in an ''extremely violent'' blaze — seemingly caused by a battery-powered electric scooter — that tore through a 10-story housing block in northeast France, authorities said Saturday.
A 13-year-old jumped to his death from the 4th-floor apartment in Reims where the fire started in the early hours of Friday and a burned body found inside is believed to be that of his older brother, aged 15, said prosecutor François Schneider.
An 87-year-old woman and her 59-year-old son who lived on the 8th floor suffocated to death in the smoke, he said.
Two people were seriously injured, including the dead boys' stepfather who was badly burned, and 26 others were treated in hospital for lighter injuries, he said.
Schneider said there is ''no doubt'' that the blaze was accidental, spreading quickly from the scooter that caught fire for reasons unknown.
Battery fires ''are extremely difficult to extinguish'' and fire officers battled the blaze for more than three hours, the prosecutor said.
