World IN BRIEF : FRANCE : 17 Die in Inferno at Psychiatric Clinic

A fire gutted a private psychiatric clinic in the town of Bruz, killing at least 17 people and injuring 35 in a converted 19th-Century chateau without sprinklers, alarms or other safety systems. The cause of France’s worst blaze in two years was not known. Prosecutor Jean-Yves Tremeroux said arson was not ruled out, but he gave no other details. It was unclear whether padlocks on the windows to prevent escape hindered the patients, mostly women, from fleeing the clinic 200 miles west of Paris. Sixteen patients and one nurse died from burns and smoke inhalation. One person was missing.