CHIKE ONWUEGBUCHI (with agency report)

The incident came barely four days after a similar lethal blaze killed 17 West Africans in another Paris apartment and another claimed 24 in April.

In the latest inferno, however, the victims were said to be among 12 families from Cote d’Ivoire, living in deplorable conditions in the house located in the central Marais area.

In a swift reaction, French President Jacques Chirac expressed sadness over the incident and ordered a review of housing policy for immigrants.

The fire broke out at 2200 (2000 GMT) on Monday and firefighters took 90 minutes to control it.

A child who jumped from a window in the building died in hospital. Six other bodies were found in the ruins.

Most of the building’s residents survived the blaze

Friday’s deadly fire - also in a building used by African immigrants - provoked street protests in Paris.

Fourteen of the 17 who died in that blaze were children. Members of the African community took to the streets over the weekend, urging the authorities to provide better housing for immigrants.

They were joined by left-wing activists and pressure groups who accused French leaders of neglect.

Some 100 firefighters and 30 vehicles were used to control the latest fire, which is said to have started in the lower part of the building - reportedly an old squat.

Fourteen people were injured, three of them seriously, fire officials said. The cause of the fire was not known.

Pierre Aidenbaum, mayor of the third district, said he had been dealing with the building "for many years now, telling the police headquarters about the living conditions, because I considered the conditions to be totally unacceptable".

He said the building’s 40 residents were to have been relocated in September to allow for renovation work.

In all three lethal blazes that hit African immigrants the flames spread quickly from the stairwell to the dilapidated wooden interiors of the apartments, the French news agency AFP reports.

According to the French lobby group, Right to Housing, only 60,000 apartments or houses are being built in the public sector each year - half the amount needed.

The group accuses the authorities of failing to requisition empty private accommodation to house those on the waiting lists. But Paris City Hall said that in the past four years it has identified 1,000 private apartment blocks to refurbish or replace. It said it has already renovated some 300 of them, 20 times as many as in the preceding period.

Reacting to the latest fire, French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy said "we must close down all these squats and all these buildings, to prevent such tragedies."