French investigators are questioning a man who worked at the cathedral in Nantes, which was badly damaged by fire on Saturday, a prosecutor said.
The man “was responsible for locking up the cathedral on Friday evening and investigators wanted to clarify elements of the schedule of this person”, the prosecutor, Pierre Sennes, told Agence France-Presse.
He emphasised that “any interpretation that could implicate this person in what occurred is premature”, adding the questioning was part of “normal procedure”.
Prosecutors launched an arson investigation after the fire broke out on Saturday morning in three places at the gothic Cathedral of St Peter and St Paul. The blaze destroyed stained glass windows and the 17th-century organ, a star attraction of the cathedral.
About 100 firefighters saved the main structure, which was built between the 15th and 19th centuries.
Sennes confirmed that experts from a police unit specialised in fire investigations were at the scene. They were awaiting authorisation from firefighters to examine the platform on which the grand organ had stood.
The cathedral rector, Father Hubert Champenois, said on Saturday that “everything was in order last night”, and that “a very close inspection was made before it closed, like every other evening”.
There was a fire in the cathedral in 1972 and its roof took more than 13 years to repair.
The regional fire chief, Laurent Ferlay, said on Saturday the damage was not comparable to the 1972 blaze, or to last year’s devastating fire at Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris.
Much of Notre-Dame’s roof and wooden structure was destroyed, its steeple collapsed and fumes containing toxic molten lead billowed into the air.
source https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jul/19/french-police-question-man-over-nantes-cathedral-fire
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