
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, March 9, 1990                   TAG: 9003092125
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A5   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: FRANKFURT, WEST GERMANY                                LENGTH: Short

ARSON BLAMED FOR FIRE KILLING 11 IN RESTAURANT

Arson was the likely cause of a fire that swept through a downtown restaurant and killed 11 people, including four Americans, police said Thursday.

Police first suspected that a gas leak in the kitchen may have caused the Wednesday night fire that gutted Koryo, a Chinese-Korean restaurant near Frankfurt's cathedral and the Zeil shopping district.

"Evidence now points more to arson," said police spokesman Manfred Fuellhardt.

He said the fire broke out in a storage room, under the wooden stairs leading to the restaurant on the second floor of the five-story building.

Smoke quickly filled the restaurant and some guests were injured when they jumped from windows to escape the flames, Fuellhardt said. He said the fire exit apparently was blocked.

- Associated Press

by CNB