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Erlanger street fire: the last unbearable words of a victim

2023-02-14T19:29:11.986Z


This exchange took place during the trial which judges the author of this fire in 2019, which caused the death of ten people.


"

It doesn't matter mum... It's over... I'm on fire...

".

An unbearable exchange between Adèle, one of the victims of the fire in a Parisian building on rue Erlanger, her mother and a firefighter filled the Paris Assize Court with dread on Tuesday, which judges the author of this fire that caused the death of ten people.

In a rapid voice, Adèle's mother's lawyer, Me Camille Askolovitch, reads excerpts from this three-way exchange.

The full transcription lasts 49 minutes.

The excerpts read by the lawyer only last a handful of minutes, but these short moments plunge the courtroom into amazement.

"My daughter's house is on fire"

In the glass box of the accused, Essia Boularès, a 44-year-old woman with psychiatric disorders, who admitted to having set the fire after a dispute with a neighbor, wipes away tears.

Adèle, auctioneer's clerk, "

young solar woman

", according to several testimonies, lived on the eighth and last floor of the building at 17 bis rue Erlanger in the 16th arrondissement.

She was 31 years old.

On the night of February 4 to 5, 2019, Adele's first instinct was to call her mother.

An “

extremely violent

” disaster has just broken out in his building.

His door is on fire.

Thick smoke creeps into his apartment.

It's 12:49 a.m. when Pascale Gorgachev, Adèle's mother, dials 18. “

My daughter's house is on fire

,” she says.

We are on the way, there are my colleagues who are on the scene

”, reassures her a firefighter who adds Adèle to the call.

The three-way conversation begins.

Read alsoFires: the “reading” of fire at the heart of investigations to identify criminals

She has to stay at home

,” the firefighter said over the phone.

The young woman panics.

"

I'm going to die there.

Help me!

".

"

Don't worry... We're coming... Stay at the window... We'll get you out

," comforts the firefighter.

At no time does he advise her to take refuge on the roof.

Two of his neighbors on the top floor will come out unscathed from the fire after having found refuge on the roof of the building.

The lawyer specifies that we hear the young woman crying on the recorded tape.

The fire is progressing at high speed.

The floor burns, the windows of the apartment explode.

All these terrible noises, we hear them, says the lawyer.

"

My colleagues are coming... They're going to knock there

," said the fireman.

Protect your face with a blanket

,” he advises.

You are not going to die

”.

"

There are flames in my living room...

", says the young woman who is also concerned about her cats.

Pascale intervenes: "

the firefighters are there sweetie

".

In fact, the investigation showed that the firefighters were only able to help the inhabitants of the first floors.

It only took a quarter of an hour for the toxic fumes to invade the upper floors of the H-shaped building, arranged around two courtyards.

"I'm going to die mom"

The landing doors as well as the electrical and ethernet cables in the false ceiling played a significant role in the circulation of the fire, an expert who came to testify explained last week.

"

I'm going to die mum

," said Adele.

"

No, no, no,

" said his mother, present at the hearing on Tuesday.

"

Mom, I'm on fire... I have flames on me

"... In the courtroom, on the benches of the civil parties, people are crying or hugging.

Adèle screams, says the lawyer.

Help!

Help me!

".

Then silence.

The fireman yells in turn: "

Hello, hello, hello... Holy shit!"

“, he lets go.

"

Hello, Adele

"... said Pascale.

It's 1:29 a.m. and the three-way communication ends there.

Adèle's body will be found in her apartment.

The trial is due to last until February 24.

Source: lefigaro

All news articles on 2023-02-14

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