Dubai Telegraph - No culprit found five years on from Notre Dame fire

EUR -
AED 3.865039
AFN 71.961868
ALL 97.885367
AMD 409.705534
ANG 1.898038
AOA 960.733931
ARS 1055.061215
AUD 1.613881
AWG 1.894109
AZN 1.787029
BAM 1.951539
BBD 2.126437
BDT 125.855234
BGN 1.956342
BHD 0.396578
BIF 3110.579445
BMD 1.052283
BND 1.414399
BOB 7.293078
BRL 6.086683
BSD 1.053191
BTN 88.848028
BWP 14.387453
BYN 3.446543
BYR 20624.740218
BZD 2.122845
CAD 1.469502
CDF 3014.78969
CHF 0.929776
CLF 0.037101
CLP 1023.776253
CNY 7.619996
CNH 7.625593
COP 4626.455438
CRC 534.824751
CUC 1.052283
CUP 27.885491
CVE 110.024795
CZK 25.350861
DJF 187.538784
DKK 7.458788
DOP 63.520417
DZD 140.573397
EGP 52.274979
ERN 15.78424
ETB 131.306162
FJD 2.388363
FKP 0.830585
GBP 0.832524
GEL 2.883571
GGP 0.830585
GHS 16.7185
GIP 0.830585
GMD 74.71233
GNF 9078.051459
GTQ 8.13025
GYD 220.338958
HKD 8.189863
HNL 26.613518
HRK 7.506205
HTG 138.346648
HUF 411.186809
IDR 16734.714279
ILS 3.929639
IMP 0.830585
INR 88.911049
IQD 1379.588093
IRR 44293.214291
ISK 145.520299
JEP 0.830585
JMD 166.933965
JOD 0.746386
JPY 162.676061
KES 136.007134
KGS 91.02957
KHR 4249.68174
KMF 491.94202
KPW 947.053999
KRW 1471.222726
KWD 0.323672
KYD 0.877684
KZT 523.167824
LAK 23125.51255
LBP 94319.785398
LKR 306.411046
LRD 190.622024
LSL 19.101997
LTL 3.107117
LVL 0.636515
LYD 5.138732
MAD 10.521031
MDL 19.167154
MGA 4930.189594
MKD 61.546561
MMK 3417.773046
MNT 3575.656436
MOP 8.443666
MRU 41.866002
MUR 48.839087
MVR 16.268296
MWK 1826.195708
MXN 21.380416
MYR 4.698412
MZN 67.293799
NAD 19.101997
NGN 1768.455747
NIO 38.755022
NOK 11.613586
NPR 142.154623
NZD 1.792324
OMR 0.40513
PAB 1.053101
PEN 3.996674
PGK 4.239684
PHP 62.126243
PKR 292.773138
PLN 4.342422
PYG 8247.914831
QAR 3.840515
RON 4.977085
RSD 117.020141
RUB 106.281009
RWF 1452.315514
SAR 3.95054
SBD 8.79238
SCR 14.332083
SDG 632.944958
SEK 11.610939
SGD 1.413951
SHP 0.830585
SLE 23.75528
SLL 22065.84631
SOS 601.88026
SRD 37.282669
STD 21780.126598
SVC 9.214882
SYP 2643.891613
SZL 19.091139
THB 36.458458
TJS 11.216013
TMT 3.682989
TND 3.324243
TOP 2.464553
TRY 36.27081
TTD 7.130433
TWD 34.270209
TZS 2791.031424
UAH 43.426878
UGX 3886.514989
USD 1.052283
UYU 45.021709
UZS 13526.469111
VES 48.861031
VND 26751.65603
VUV 124.929112
WST 2.937543
XAF 654.521833
XAG 0.033884
XAU 0.000395
XCD 2.843846
XDR 0.801343
XOF 654.521833
XPF 119.331742
YER 262.991742
ZAR 19.064031
ZMK 9471.810193
ZMW 29.146091
ZWL 338.834589
  • RBGPF

    -0.5000

    59.69

    -0.84%

  • RIO

    -0.1900

    62.2

    -0.31%

  • BTI

    -0.1150

    36.965

    -0.31%

  • AZN

    0.3750

    63.575

    +0.59%

  • GSK

    -0.0550

    33.295

    -0.17%

  • RYCEF

    0.1900

    6.8

    +2.79%

  • NGG

    -0.1700

    63.1

    -0.27%

  • CMSC

    -0.0450

    24.52

    -0.18%

  • SCS

    -0.0200

    13.05

    -0.15%

  • JRI

    0.0200

    13.25

    +0.15%

  • RELX

    0.2350

    45.345

    +0.52%

  • BCC

    1.3600

    138.77

    +0.98%

  • VOD

    -0.0350

    8.905

    -0.39%

  • BP

    0.1350

    29.215

    +0.46%

  • CMSD

    0.0400

    24.3

    +0.16%

  • BCE

    -0.2750

    26.725

    -1.03%

No culprit found five years on from Notre Dame fire
No culprit found five years on from Notre Dame fire / Photo: Fouad Maghrane - AFP/File

No culprit found five years on from Notre Dame fire

Five years of investigation and expert reports have failed to identify the precise cause of the 2019 fire that ravaged Paris' landmark Notre Dame cathedral, even as the probe draws to a close just as the cathedral prepares to reopen early next month.

Text size:

Notre Dame's bells rang out Friday for the first time since the fire, ahead of a reopening ceremony on Saturday December 7.

But investigators have yet to establish who, if anyone, is responsible for the fire whose images went around the world.

"Every avenue, including the hypothesis of a human role in the origin of this fire (has been) explored since the beginning of the investigation," Paris' chief prosecutor Laure Beccuau said in April.

"But the truth is that the closer we have got to the spot the fire started, and the more results of analyses come back, the more weight is lent to the theory of an accident," she added.

Beccuau noted at the time that investigating magistrates had in 2023 called for new expert reports on the cathedral debris, the place where the fire started and the church's "technical infrastructure".

Although all had been carried out by April, the experts have been asked to summarise and cross-reference their "extremely technical" findings "to see if it is possible to determine a potential cause for the fire", she added.

Prosecutors told AFP this week that investigating magistrates have now ordered "a 3D simulation be created of the start of the fire using the images taken at the time. This simulation will allow us to compare different theories" about the blaze.

So far "no charges have been filed" against anyone, the prosecutors confirmed.

A source familiar with the case said the investigation was drawing to a close.

- Safety failings -

Remy Heitz, chief Paris prosecutor at the time of the initial investigation, said at the time he believed an accidental cause such as an electrical fault or smouldering cigarette butt was most likely.

Since then, no new information has surfaced to suggest a deliberate arson.

"Over the past year, every zone (in the cathedral) has been cleared of debris" -- without revealing any new relevant evidence, a source in the judiciary said in mid-2023.

The more than 850-year-old cathedral of Notre Dame, whose silhouette is known the world over, was undergoing restoration work when fire broke out on April 15, 2019.

In a spectacularly destructive blaze relayed around the world in images and live broadcasts, the church lost its spire, roof, clock and part of its stone vault.

Several safety failings were later singled out, including the cathedral's alarm system which contributed to slowing firefighters' response, as well the electrical system in one of its elevators.

Neither is believed to have initially set off the fire, but they enabled the flames to spread through the monument.

- Lead contamination -

Investigators have a separate case open into the potentially harmful health effects of the Notre Dame fire, which has also filed no charges so far, prosecutors said.

A health association joined forces with a union and two parents of local schoolchildren for a 2022 criminal complaint that accused authorities of failing to take every precaution to prevent lead pollution.

Supported by its "forest" of wooden beams, Notre Dame's roof and spire were covered by around 400 tonnes of lead, a toxic heavy metal that went up in smoke with the fire -- some of which likely came back down to earth in the neighbourhood.

The weight is "four times the total annual lead emissions into the atmosphere for all of France," the plaintiffs pointed out.

Possible charges for the lead's impact on the health of both local residents and workers sent in to decontaminate the Notre Dame site are being investigated by the same judge, a judicial source said.

Y.Sharma--DT