It was meant to be Paris's coolest landmark as the city fights a heatwave: a new floating swimming pool on the river Seine to replace a pool that came loose from its moorings and sank 13 years ago. But the Josephine Baker pool, named after the singer and French resistance fighter, has been shut days after opening following a safety scare when tiles started coming loose from the bottom.

The €17m (£11.8m) complex, which is filled with recycled water from the Seine, already had teething problems. Its grand opening last week had to be postponed for six hours after chlorine levels were found to be four times over the norm. Then Le Parisien reported ventilation problems as the temperature in the complex's gym soared to 34C (93F).

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| in the news | 17 July 2006; 12:18:22 PM |# | | |