In the French city of Marseille, in southern France, a four-storey apartment building collapsed on Saturday evening. Several people were injured as a result. Because a fire also breaks out afterwards, the rescuers are unable to search for other possible victims. The intervention of the emergency services continues. Eight people do not answer calls. This is what Marseille’s public prosecutor, Dominique Laurens, said at a press conference on Sunday.
“We have a situation with eight people not answering calls at 17 rue de Tivoli and a park connecting numbers 15 and 17. We have no news,” Laurens said.
In Building 17, it concerns “people of a certain age and a young couple in their 30s,” according to the public prosecutor. According to the information transmitted, there are no children or minors.
The Public Prosecutor also spoke about a ninth wanted person in No. 19. “This information has not yet been confirmed. But a woman came forward and told us that she had no news about her ex-partner who lives in No. 19.”
According to the Public Prosecutor, it is currently impossible to determine the cause of the explosion that preceded the collapse. One possibility is a potential gas explosion. CCTV footage shows that the explosion was “extremely violent”.
The prosecution said that the building that collapsed after the explosion and two adjacent buildings, one of which collapsed in the hours after the drama and the other threatened to collapse, are not neglected buildings.
Gas leak ‘possible option’
By the afternoon, 33 buildings in the area had been evacuated. About 160 people were given shelter. Residents have been evacuated from two other buildings that were affected by the collapse and are also at risk of collapsing. Five of them sustained minor injuries. “About thirty” another building in the street, Rue dei Tivoli, was also evacuated as a precaution. Regional governor Christophe Mirmand said the evacuees were staying in a school.
The authorities have now launched an investigation into the cause of the disaster.
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