07:13 GMT
Image source, AFPImage caption,
Axel Clavier said he was in the burning bar and had to break a window to escape
This post contains details some readers may find upsetting.
We’ve heard from a number of eyewitnesses and people who were in the bar at the time of the fire.
“People were running in all directions, screaming and crying,” eyewitness Daniella, from Milan, said. “A young man came up to me and said he’d seen hell – things he would never forget.”
One 18-year-old, who did not want to give his name, said he entered the bar during the fire to search for his little brother.
“I saw people burning… I found people burning from head to foot, no clothes anymore,” he said.
Axel Clavier said he was trapped in the burning building and had to break a window to escape.
“We couldn’t see because of the smoke,” he told AFP, “half of my clothes were gone, it was crazy.”
He said before the fire started there were waitresses in the bar “with champagne bottles with flares too close to the ceiling”, and that the “fire took hold suddenly”.
Two French women who were inside the bar when the fire also said they believe it began when a waitress put “birthday candles” on top of some champagne bottles.
Emma and Albane, told French media outlet BFMTV “the entire ceiling was ablaze” within seconds as the flames “started to rise very quickly”.
For context: Authorities have not yet said what they believe caused the fire.