NZ Herald
  • Home
  • Latest news
  • Herald NOW
  • Video
  • New Zealand
  • Sport
  • World
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Podcasts
  • Quizzes
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Viva
  • Weather

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • New Zealand
    • All New Zealand
    • Crime
    • Politics
    • Education
    • Open Justice
    • Scam Update
  • Herald NOW
  • On The Up
  • World
    • All World
    • Australia
    • Asia
    • UK
    • United States
    • Middle East
    • Europe
    • Pacific
  • Business
    • All Business
    • MarketsSharesCurrencyCommoditiesStock TakesCrypto
    • Markets with Madison
    • Media Insider
    • Business analysis
    • Personal financeKiwiSaverInterest ratesTaxInvestment
    • EconomyInflationGDPOfficial cash rateEmployment
    • Small business
    • Business reportsMood of the BoardroomProject AucklandSustainable business and financeCapital markets reportAgribusiness reportInfrastructure reportDynamic business
    • Deloitte Top 200 Awards
    • CompaniesAged CareAgribusinessAirlinesBanking and financeConstructionEnergyFreight and logisticsHealthcareManufacturingMedia and MarketingRetailTelecommunicationsTourism
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Editorials
    • Business analysis
    • Premium opinion
    • Letters to the editor
  • Politics
  • Sport
    • All Sport
    • OlympicsParalympics
    • RugbySuper RugbyNPCAll BlacksBlack FernsRugby sevensSchool rugby
    • CricketBlack CapsWhite Ferns
    • Racing
    • NetballSilver Ferns
    • LeagueWarriorsNRL
    • FootballWellington PhoenixAuckland FCAll WhitesFootball FernsEnglish Premier League
    • GolfNZ Open
    • MotorsportFormula 1
    • Boxing
    • UFC
    • BasketballNBABreakersTall BlacksTall Ferns
    • Tennis
    • Cycling
    • Athletics
    • SailingAmerica's CupSailGP
    • Rowing
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Viva - Food, fashion & beauty
    • Society Insider
    • Royals
    • Sex & relationships
    • Food & drinkRecipesRecipe collectionsRestaurant reviewsRestaurant bookings
    • Health & wellbeing
    • Fashion & beauty
    • Pets & animals
    • The Selection - Shop the trendsShop fashionShop beautyShop entertainmentShop giftsShop home & living
    • Milford's Investing Place
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • TV
    • MoviesMovie reviews
    • MusicMusic reviews
    • BooksBook reviews
    • Culture
    • ReviewsBook reviewsMovie reviewsMusic reviewsRestaurant reviews
  • Travel
    • All Travel
    • News
    • New ZealandNorthlandAucklandWellingtonCanterburyOtago / QueenstownNelson-TasmanBest NZ beaches
    • International travelAustraliaPacific IslandsEuropeUKUSAAfricaAsia
    • Rail holidays
    • Cruise holidays
    • Ski holidays
    • Luxury travel
    • Adventure travel
  • Kāhu Māori news
  • Environment
    • All Environment
    • Our Green Future
  • Talanoa Pacific news
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Property Insider
    • Interest rates tracker
    • Residential property listings
    • Commercial property listings
  • Health
  • Technology
    • All Technology
    • AI
    • Social media
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
    • Opinion
    • Audio & podcasts
  • Weather forecasts
    • All Weather forecasts
    • Kaitaia
    • Whangārei
    • Dargaville
    • Auckland
    • Thames
    • Tauranga
    • Hamilton
    • Whakatāne
    • Rotorua
    • Tokoroa
    • Te Kuiti
    • Taumaranui
    • Taupō
    • Gisborne
    • New Plymouth
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Dannevirke
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Levin
    • Paraparaumu
    • Masterton
    • Wellington
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Blenheim
    • Westport
    • Reefton
    • Kaikōura
    • Greymouth
    • Hokitika
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
    • Wānaka
    • Oamaru
    • Queenstown
    • Dunedin
    • Gore
    • Invercargill
  • Meet the journalists
  • Promotions & competitions
  • OneRoof property listings
  • Driven car news

Puzzles & Quizzes

  • Puzzles
    • All Puzzles
    • Sudoku
    • Code Cracker
    • Crosswords
    • Cryptic crossword
    • Wordsearch
  • Quizzes
    • All Quizzes
    • Morning quiz
    • Afternoon quiz
    • Sports quiz

Regions

  • Northland
    • All Northland
    • Far North
    • Kaitaia
    • Kerikeri
    • Kaikohe
    • Bay of Islands
    • Whangarei
    • Dargaville
    • Kaipara
    • Mangawhai
  • Auckland
  • Waikato
    • All Waikato
    • Hamilton
    • Coromandel & Hauraki
    • Matamata & Piako
    • Cambridge
    • Te Awamutu
    • Tokoroa & South Waikato
    • Taupō & Tūrangi
  • Bay of Plenty
    • All Bay of Plenty
    • Katikati
    • Tauranga
    • Mount Maunganui
    • Pāpāmoa
    • Te Puke
    • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Hawke's Bay
    • All Hawke's Bay
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Havelock North
    • Central Hawke's Bay
    • Wairoa
  • Taranaki
    • All Taranaki
    • Stratford
    • New Plymouth
    • Hāwera
  • Manawatū - Whanganui
    • All Manawatū - Whanganui
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Manawatū
    • Tararua
    • Horowhenua
  • Wellington
    • All Wellington
    • Kapiti
    • Wairarapa
    • Upper Hutt
    • Lower Hutt
  • Nelson & Tasman
    • All Nelson & Tasman
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Tasman
  • Marlborough
  • West Coast
  • Canterbury
    • All Canterbury
    • Kaikōura
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
  • Otago
    • All Otago
    • Oamaru
    • Dunedin
    • Balclutha
    • Alexandra
    • Queenstown
    • Wanaka
  • Southland
    • All Southland
    • Invercargill
    • Gore
    • Stewart Island
  • Gisborne

Media

  • Video
    • All Video
    • NZ news video
    • Herald NOW
    • Business news video
    • Politics news video
    • Sport video
    • World news video
    • Lifestyle video
    • Entertainment video
    • Travel video
    • Markets with Madison
    • Kea Kids news
  • Podcasts
    • All Podcasts
    • The Front Page
    • On the Tiles
    • Ask me Anything
    • The Little Things
  • Cartoons
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / World

Fire started by birthday candles sweeps through French bar, killing 13

Daily Telegraph UK
6 Aug, 2016 05:30 PM4 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Firefighters leave the bar where a fire broke in Rouen, western France. Photo / AP

Firefighters leave the bar where a fire broke in Rouen, western France. Photo / AP

A policewoman's 20th birthday party ended in tragedy in the early hours of Saturday when the candles on her cake sparked an inferno that gutted a bar in Rouen, northern France, killing 13 people and injuring another six.

An urgent investigation is under way amid questions about whether the Cuba Libre bar complied with fire regulations.

The policewoman, named as Ophélie A., was among the dead in the cramped basement of the bar, all aged between 18 and 25.

One of the guests, Karima, suffered burns to nearly 90 per cent of her body. She was rushed to a hospital in Paris where she was fighting for her life.

A man places a rose outside the bar where a fire broke in Rouen. Photo / AP
A man places a rose outside the bar where a fire broke in Rouen. Photo / AP
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

The blaze broke out at the height of the party, soon after midnight. As a local DJ played, a guest or a staff member stumbled while carrying the birthday cake with 20 lit candles and sparklers down steep wooden stairs into the basement.

The cake went flying and the candles hit the walls, which witnesses said were covered with a soundproof material that caught fire immediately.

The basement, packed with about 20 people, rapidly filled with thick black smoke and toxic fumes.

"I was on the ground floor of the bar. We saw the flames, it was like a flame-thrower," said a customer, Stéphanie, 31.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Amar Ould Said, 40, a witness, said: "They were bringing bodies out every two minutes. They set up a first aid area on the pavement across the road."

The blaze was so intense that it took 80 firemen half an hour to bring it under control. About 40 police officers also rushed to the scene.

Some of the dead were so badly burned that they remained unidentified on Saturday night. Frantic relatives rushed to Rouen hospital where psychologists counselled the bereaved. At least 50 people were searching for missing friends or family.

The horrific fire plunged Rouen into profound shock for the second time in 10 days after Islamist terrorists slit the throat of an 85-year-old priest in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, only six miles from the bar in the town centre.

Initial reports of the fire raised fears of another attack, but the mayor, Yvon Robert, said it was "completely accidental".

The basement where partygoers were trapped reportedly had "no proper fire exit", according to regular customers of the bar, known as a music venue that stayed open until 2am.

It was popular with people from Réunion, an Indian Ocean island that is part of France. Rouen is home to a sizeable Réunionnais community and one guest, Willy, 20, said: "This bar was more like a family than a bar."

But another regular customer complained about the lack of safety.

"It's a real mousetrap," he told Le Parisien newspaper. "Could you see an illuminated sign, an exit route or a way out? Nothing like that. In the panic, how would you get out?"

There was a door leading from the basement to a corridor and garages behind the bar, but the guests appear not to have managed to exit through it, although firemen used it to gain access to the basement.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Questions were also asked about whether the stairs, described by a regular customer as "almost like a ladder", complied with safety standards. Colonel Pascal Belhache, a fire expert, said: "The way the materials reportedly caught fire so fast raises doubts about whether they were approved under fire regulations."

Forensic teams on Saturday examined the charred remains of the bar, whose owner, named as Nasser, was unhurt.

President Hollande expressed his "emotion and sadness" and promised: "Everything will be done in the judicial investigation in progress to determine the causes of this dramatic accident."

A friend of the policewoman, also called Ophélie, described her as "a young woman who was always happy, generous, passionate about her job and also about horses."

Save

    Share this article

Latest from World

World

Ireland’s peatlands being mapped to help cut emissions

11 Jun 06:00 PM
World

Hopes still remain for Italy's long-awaited, longest bridge

11 Jun 06:00 PM
Premium
World

Extremely life-like dolls cause a frenzy in Brazil

11 Jun 06:00 PM

Clean water fuelling Pacific futures

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from World

Ireland’s peatlands being mapped to help cut emissions

Ireland’s peatlands being mapped to help cut emissions

11 Jun 06:00 PM

Peatlands are vital as carbon sinks but their boundaries can be hard to determine.

Hopes still remain for Italy's long-awaited, longest bridge

Hopes still remain for Italy's long-awaited, longest bridge

11 Jun 06:00 PM
Premium
Extremely life-like dolls cause a frenzy in Brazil

Extremely life-like dolls cause a frenzy in Brazil

11 Jun 06:00 PM
 The Beach Boys founder Brian Wilson dies at 82

The Beach Boys founder Brian Wilson dies at 82

11 Jun 05:26 PM
It was just a stopover – 18 months later, they call it home
sponsored

It was just a stopover – 18 months later, they call it home

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • NZ Herald e-editions
  • Daily puzzles & quizzes
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • What the Actual
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven CarGuide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP