Firefighters 'expected to face charges' over alleged Paris gang rape

Fire station staff have been questioned by city prosecutors

An investigation is underway by the Paris prosecutor's office (Pascal Rossignol/Reuters)

Six firefighters are expected to face charges as part of an investigation into an alleged gang rape in a Paris fire station.

The six are set to be presented to a judge on Monday, according to the Paris prosecutor's office.

Prosecutors have been questioning the firefighters since their arrest on Saturday.

The magistrate is expected to file preliminary charges ranging from gang rape to failure to prevent or report a crime.

Not all of the six suspects - ranging in age from 23 to 35 - are set to be charged with rape, legal sources told the Agence France-Presse news agency.

A woman from Norway filed a rape complaint over the weekend, alleging the attack took place at a fire station in the Plaisance district of southern Paris between Friday night and Saturday morning.

French newspaper La Parisien reported that the woman allegedly told police she had consensual sex with one firefighter before being raped.

The firefighters would be suspended for the duration of an internal inquiry, Lt Col Gabriel Plus, the Paris fire service spokesman, told Le Parisien.

The Paris fire service said it would not be issuing any further comment pending further investigation.

Firefighters in Paris are members of the French military, unlike the majority of others firefighters in service across the country.

The allegations come weeks after the city's fire service was praised for its collective bravery in bringing a huge fire at the world-famous Notre-Dame Cathedral under control.