Paris blaze leads to housing vow

France has promised to improve its housing for needy people, after 14 children and three adults died in a blaze in Paris.

The fire swept through a block of flats housing African immigrants in Paris' 13th district. Thirty people were hurt.

Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy blamed the deaths on overcrowding in the run-down seven-storey building.

In April, 24 people died in a fire at a Paris hotel also housing immigrants, prompting calls for better housing.

Click here to talk about this story

Social Cohesion and Housing Minister Jean-Louis Borloo promised to launch a programme to build new housing.

He said details of the "high priority project" would be released within the next few days.

Some 200 firefighters took two hours to control the blaze, which broke out in a stairwell.

They helped most of the building's 130 residents, including many from Senegal and Mali, to safety.

Experts are trying to work out the cause of the blaze, and a criminal investigation has begun.