Arson ruled out in Israeli embassy blaze

A savage blaze that destroyed the Israeli embassy in Paris in the early hours of yesterday was almost certainly caused by an electrical fault, French investigators believe.

Police have all but ruled out that the fire was arson or related to a recent spate of anti-Semitic attacks in France. Preliminary inquiries pointed to an electrical box on the first floor of the five-storey embassy as the likely origin of the blaze.

The ambassador, Elie Barnavi, said: "It's tragic, tens of years of work disappearing under our eyes. All my papers, archives, hundreds of books and a wonderful collection of pipes are all gone."

Eight firefighters were slightly injured during a five-hour battle to extinguish the intense blaze. The embassy was undergoing renovation but had reopened on Wednesday.

Mr Barnavi said the embassy was always under tight security, reducing the possibility of an attack. "We have good reason to believe this was an accidental fire," he said.