Twenty die in hotel blaze

At least 20 people are feared dead and more than 50 injured today as fire swept through a Paris hotel popular with English tourists.

As the intense blaze gutted the building, victims - including women and children - were seen leaping from top-floor windows.

Among those visiting the scene early today were Interior Minister Dominique de Villepin, who is leading France's fight against terrorism. The Paris-Opera hotel, in the 9th district and just a short stroll from the Eurostar terminal and its direct trains to London, only has one staircase and there was mass panic as the heat intensified.

Witnesses heard "Fire, Fire!" being shouted at about 3.30am.

"Everyone was screaming," said Chakib San, who lives opposite. "There were bodies in the road."

He saw at least three people - including a mother and child - leaping to the street below. All hit the pavement "with a loud noise".

Mr San added: "They were on the ground. They weren't moving."

He said he and a woman who works in a hotel opposite had used a ladder to rescue a little girl.

"We got her out and the firefighters arrived a few minutes later," he said.

Fifty fire engines attended the scene, while about 250 firefighters used high power hoses against the flames.

The fire was under control within an hour, but work continued to try to find survivors among the wreckage.

The Galeries Lafayette department store, also nearby, was turned into a makeshift hospital for the injured.

About 15 people, some of whom jumped from the hotel's windows, were taken to hospital in a serious condition suffering from burns, trauma and the effects of smoke inhalation.

The Paris-Opera is a one-star hotel popular with tourists because of its central location.

It is also used by the local council to accommodate people, mainly of North African - predominantly Tunisian - origin, waiting to move into subsidised state housing.