PARIS - A woman has admitted accidentally causing last week's fire in a Paris hotel that killed 22 people, half of them children, a police source has said.
Paris police chief Pierre Mutz broke the news to the Paris city council, the source said.
The woman - the girlfriend of one of the hotel's night watchmen - had been held for questioning since Monday morning, the source said.
"She was at the scene shortly before the start of the fire," the source added.
Police said the death toll had risen to 22 over the weekend after Friday's fire at the Paris-Opera hotel. About 50 people were also injured.
The blaze was one of the deadliest fires in the French capital for years.
Some victims attempted to save themselves by jumping from windows and others tried to save their children by throwing them from upper floors after the fire broke out in the middle of the night.
Paris prosecutors have launched an inquiry for involuntary manslaughter.
- REUTERS
Detained woman admits causing French hotel fire
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