July 23, 2003	Wednesday	Jumadi-ul-Awwal 22, 1424

PARIS, July 22: A fire broke out at the top of the landmark Eiffel Tower in Paris on Tuesday, causing no injuries and forcing the evacuation of the popular tourist destination, officials said.

Firefighters extinguished what was described as a small blaze caused by an apparent short circuit in the third and last part of the tower, which is closed to visitors and used for relaying television and radio signals.

At one point, thick smoke could be seen pouring from the top of the 324-metre structure, France’s best-known and the world’s most popular monument visited by some six million people a year.

The fire broke out at 1720 GMT on the tower, and was brought under control about an hour later. Some 3,000 tourists were evacuated, and the Eiffel Tower was closed to the public until Wednesday.

The monument, with its distinctive rusty brown colour, opened in 1889, and was until 1929 the world’s tallest tower.—AFP