Arson Suspected after Fire at French Gothic Cathedral

Paris (dpa) - French prosecutors have launched an arson investigation following a major fire at a 15th-century Gothic cathedral in the western city of Nantes on Saturday.

The blaze spewed smoke from the front windows of the Cathedral of Saint Pierre and Saint Paul, but damage was mostly limited to the large pipe organ inside.

The organ was "completely destroyed," and the platform on which it sits is unstable and on the verge of collapse, said the head of the local fire department, Laurent Ferlay.

The public prosecutor's office is now investigating whether arson was the cause.

The fire broke out in three places, which is probably not a coincidence, Nantes prosecutor Pierre Sennes told local radio station France Bleu Loire Ocean.

Flames originated from the organ and on both sides of the nave, BFMTV reported, citing the public prosecutor's office.

According to media reports, over 100 firefighters were deployed to the cathedral to extinguish the blaze.

In a video posted by firefighters, flames can be seen through the church's front windows while smoke pours out of them.

According to the Nantes diocese, the church had also caught fire in 1972, destroying its roof. After restoration work, the church, which belongs to the French late Gothic style, reopened its doors in 1985.

In 2015, a spectacular fire destroyed the basilica of another church in Nantes, the Basilica of Saint Donatian and Saint Rogatian.

Saturday's fire comes a little more than a year after the Notre Dame Cathedral in the capital, Paris, caught fire, destroying the roof of the 12th-century Gothic cathedral as well as its 93-metre-high spire.

French President Emmanuel Macron expressed his support for firefighters saving this "Gothic jewel," while Prime Minister Jean Castex said he would travel to Nantes on Saturday to see the damage.

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