Eight people have died in an apartment block fire in Paris and police are investigating whether it was started intentionally, officials said.

Interior ministry spokesman Pierre-Henry Brandet told BFM TV the dead included two children. Four survivors are in hospital.

Mr Brandet said the firefighters extinguished a small paper fire in the building, located at the foot of the French capital's famed Montmartre hill. They were called back two hours later when a new fire started in a ground floor stairwell and quickly engulfed the building's upper storeys.

More than 100 firefighters were required to extinguish the blaze.

Some victims died leaping from the burning building's windows, Mr Brandet said.

A witness told BFM she saw residents screaming "Save us!" from windows while the fire raged.

Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo and interior minister Bernard Cazeneuve went to the scene. Ms Hidalgo said the building had not had any previous problems and had been in good condition.

It was one of the deadliest fires in Paris since a blaze in a hotel housing African immigrants left 24 people dead including 11 children in 2005.