PARIS - People screamed to be rescued from flames - some even jumped from windows - as a fire roared through a Paris hotel early today used by the government to house needy African families. At least 20 people were killed, half of them children, officials said.

More than 50 people were injured, 11 seriously. The fire was thought to have started in a first-floor breakfast room of the one-star Paris Opera hotel in the capital's 9th district, a popular tourist area, fire officials said.

Many guests were African. Paris City Hall had rented rooms in the six-story hotel to temporarily house nine people from Africa, and state services housed 65 others without means, including some seeking asylum.

The injured came from France, the United States, Portugal, Senegal, Tunisia, Ukraine and Ivory Coast, Paris police said.