Seven people have died and 23 others have been hospitalised following an overnight fire in a block of flats in southern Belgium.
Four of the victims died in the fire, which started on the 12th floor of a social housing project in Mons. Three others were killed after they jumped from windows to escape the blaze.
One resident, a Congolese national in his 30s, "saved at least 10 people," running down stairs and banging on the doors of people including pensioners, and then helping them out of the building," said spokeswoman Anne-Sophie Charles
The fire took hold shortly after midnight spreading to the upper floors of the apartment block.
A row immediately broke out about safety measures in the building, which occupants claimed were inadequate. But the agency which manages the block, built in 1966, denied the charge.
"The building has no alarm system or fire doors," said one tenant cited by the Belga news agency.
The head of the managing company Sorelobo, Victor Zdanov, said the building had emergency stairs, fire extinguishers on every floor and facilities for firefighters to connect hoses.
But he added that the alarm system was regularly destroyed by tenants and was replaced when necessary.
The Red Cross and other local authority agencies were helping to counsel the families of the dead and those affected by the blaze, she said.
AFP