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MARSEILLE, France – Eight people are missing after the building they were living in collapsed in an explosion early Sunday near the port of Marseille, leaving behind a pile of burning debris that is hampering rescue operations, officials said.
More than 100 firefighters worked to extinguish the fire inside the ruins of the five-story building, but more than 17 hours later the situation “is not stable,” Marseille prosecutor Dominique Laurens said at a press conference on Sunday evening.
The cause of the explosion was not immediately known. Ms Laurens said a gas explosion was a possibility.
The crumbling building is on a narrow street in the center of Marseille, less than half a mile from the city’s beautiful old port. About 30 buildings in the area were evacuated, said Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin, who visited the site.
The sound of the explosion, which happened shortly before 1 am, reverberated in other neighborhoods. The road nearby was blocked.
Marie Ciret, one of the evacuees, said she heard “a very strong explosion that made us jump.” He looked outside and “saw smoke, rocks, and people walking.”
The mayor of Marseille, Benoit Payan, said that two buildings with the same wall as the one that collapsed had been partially destroyed, and one had collapsed.
Officials said the rescue operation was a delicate operation, meant to keep firefighters safe, prevent further damage to people potentially trapped in the rubble and not compromise vulnerable nearby buildings, including those that had partially collapsed. Mrs. Laurens, the prosecutor, said the firefighters were “really in a complicated, dangerous situation for them.”
“We tried to put out the fire while saving the lives of the victims under the rubble,” said Lionel Mathieu, commander of Marseille’s fire brigade, during a televised briefing.
Ms Laurens said the police have yet to confirm the disappearance of the nine people who lived in the building next to the one that collapsed. Five people are known to have suffered minor injuries from the collapse.
Drones and probes are used to check the scene for signs of life. The burning debris was too hot for firefighter dog teams to work until Sunday evening, Ms Laurens said.
A crane was brought in to clear the wreckage. At one point, firefighters could be seen on TV footage burning some of the debris from the windows of a nearby apartment building as plumes of smoke rose into the sky.
“Firefighters measure minute by minute the best way to put out the fire,” said Mr. Payan, the mayor.
“We have to prepare ourselves to have casualties,” he said.
In 2018, two buildings in central Marseille collapsed, killing eight people. The building was not well maintained, but it was not true about the building that collapsed on Sunday, the interior minister said.
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