Paris apartment fire kills five

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A fire in an apartment complex in an impoverished Paris suburb has killed five people, including two children.

Officials say 18 people were hurt.

France's top security official, Manuel Valls, went to the scene of the fire on Wednesday morning in Gennevilliers along with the country's housing minister.

All five victims of the fire - parents, two young children and a family friend staying with them - were in the same apartment, officials say.

"We've seen a family ravaged by sadness, trying to understand what happened," Valls said.

Gennevilliers is among the poorest areas outside Paris, and many of its residents live in large public housing blocks.

Investigators had not yet determined a cause for the overnight fire.

- AP