Rescuers have found two bodies in the rubble of a building that collapsed in an explosion in the southern French port city of Marseille on Sunday, the city’s fire department said, APA reports citing CNN.
Earlier, French authorities said eight people were missing, but it’s not clear if that figure includes the two bodies found.
A “violent explosion” shook the building at around 12:30 a.m. local time, according to Marseille Mayor Benoît Payan, prompting a search and rescue effort as authorities investigated the cause of the blast.
The French Housing Authority said 179 people had been evacuated from the site, rescuers told
Rescue efforts are being complicated by a fire burning within the rubble, French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin told during a visit to the scene.
Darmanin said rescuers are also concerned about firefighting water endangering the lives of any buried survivors.
Local residents described hearing an explosion, with lots of dust and a smell of gas in the air.
“It was exhausting and completely insane. I saw an avalanche of people panicking in the street and then I started running like crazy,” an unnamed witness told BFM.
Approximately 30 of the surrounding buildings have also been evacuated, according to Darmanin.
Prosecutor of Marseille Dominique Laurens said in a press conference Sunday that at this stage it was “impossible” to determine the cause of the explosion as “the situation has not yet been stabilized.” She said a “gas explosion” was one lead being examined but it was “something we can’t confirm at this stage of the investigation.”
***21:59/ 09 April 2023
Eight people are not responding to calls and are thought to be under the rubble of two buildings that collapsed in an explosion early on Sunday in the southern French city of Marseille, local officials said, APA reports citing Reuters.
The cause of the explosion was not yet known, Marseille prosecutor Dominique Laurens said on Sunday evening.
The collapse caused a fire that complicated rescue efforts and investigations, and that had not yet been brought under control, she told a news conference.
Five people were taken to hospital with serious but not life threatening injuries.
A third building partially collapsed and some 30 buildings in the area were evacuated, said Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin, who visited the site of the disaster.
Some 180 people have been evacuated, Housing Minister Olivier Klein told Europe 1 radio.
The buildings that collapsed on the Rue de Tivoli were not known to have any structural problems, the prosecutor said.
"Thoughts are with Marseille," President Emmanuel Macron said in a Twitter message.
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