Three killed in building fire in French Riviera city

NICE, France: Three people died in a fire that erupted early Sunday in a residential building in the French Riviera city of Grasse, firefighters said.
 
Three others were seriously injured, and four had lighter injuries, they said, adding that the fire had been extinguished.
 
“The condition of the victims can always change,” Aymeric Soufflet from the firefighting service told AFP. 
 
The origin of the fire in Grasse’s historic centre was not immediately clear. 
 
It only affected the top three floors of the building, whose facade was partially blackened by the flames.
 
Firefighters were alerted by local residents at around 3am (0100 GMT). They found the body of a person who had jumped out in front of the edifice and two other corpses inside.
 
“An alarm started beeping, and then I heard cries.
 
“A woman cried out for help, shouting ‘Fire!’ and asking me to call the fire service, which is what I did. A man from the floor above tried to come down to avoid the flames, but he fell,” said Martine, a woman who lives in an adjoining building and who only gave one name.
 
Grasse is considered the world’s perfume capital. – AFP