At least €600m (£519m) has been raised to aid the restoration of the Notre-Dame Cathedral, which has been badly damaged in a fire.

The money comes as workers tackling the renovations on the roof – where the fire started – were being questioned over the outbreak of the blaze.

French billionaire François-Henri Pinault donated €100m (£86.4m) towards efforts and was shortly followed by LVMH chief executive Bernard Arnault who offered €200m (£173m) to reconstruct the “symbol of France”.

Mr Pinault said: “This tragedy strikes all the French and beyond all those who are attached to spiritual values. Faced with such a tragedy, everyone wants to revive this jewel of our heritage as quickly as possible.”

French energy company Total will donate €100m (£86.4m), as a further €200m (£173m) was pledged by French luxury and cosmetics group L’Oreal and the Bettencourt Meyers family.

Other funding efforts are underway through crowd-funding pages and French President Emmanuel Macron announced an international fundraising campaign.

The first reports of a fire at the world-famous landmark came at 6.50pm local time on Monday. The edifice burned for more than 12 hours until the final flames could be extinguished.

Around 500 firefighters worked throughout the night to put out the flames, with two police officers and one firefighter injured during the efforts.

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