Eight missing after the collapse of a building due to an explosion in Marseille

This photograph shows the rubble in the ‘rue Tivoli’ after a building collapsed on the same street, in Marseille, in the south of France, on April 9, 2023 (CLEMENT MAHOUDEAU / AFP) (CLEMENT MAHOUDEAU /)

At least 8 people are missing after the collapse of a building in the center of Marseille on Sunday due to a burstwhose causes are unknown and which also caused five woundedindicated the French authorities.

“We have eight people that we have not been able to contact (…). We don’t have any news about them, ”he said at a press conference in the afternoon. Dominique Laurensprosecutor of the Republic in Marseillein the south-east of France.

Marseille - Landslide - France
An excavator at the scene of the accident (CLEMENT MAHOUDEAU / AFP) (CLEMENT MAHOUDEAU /)

The collapse of the building in the center of the second most populous city in France It occurred during the early hours of Sunday.

“Tonight at 00:40 (22:40 GMT on Saturday) there was a collapse of a building at 17 Tivoli Street, causing the fall of part of (the buildings at) 15 and 19 Tivoli Street,” he told the press Benoit Payanmayor of this port town.

“We have to be prepared that there will be casualties in this terrible tragedy,” Payan said after the four-story building collapsed.

Marseille - Landslide - France
Since early Sunday morning, firefighters have been trying to put out the fire, which prevents rescuers and sniffer dogs from searching for the missing among the rubble. (CLEMENT MAHOUDEAU / AFP) (CLEMENT MAHOUDEAU /)

He added that they have accounted for five people injured so far, although none of them in serious condition.

According to the prosecution, which mentioned a possible ninth missing person, managed to identify the missingamong which there are no children or minors, due to the impossibility of their relatives to contact them.

Marseille - Landslide - France
The collapse of the building in the center of the second most populous city in France occurred during the early hours of Sunday. (CLEMENT MAHOUDEAU / AFP) (CLEMENT MAHOUDEAU /)

The Marseille prosecutor acknowledged that “At the moment it is impossible to know the causes of the explosion”, which devastated the building and occurred at 00:46 (22:46 GMT on Saturday), according to surveillance cameras.

“He gas It is obviously one of the clues” that the authorities are contemplating, he added.

“It was huge, like an explosion”, he declared to the AFP Gilles, a man who preferred not to give his last name and who lives in a street perpendicular to the collapsed building.

Marseille - Landslide - France
The gas is one of the clues that the authorities are contemplating as the cause of the explosion. (CLEMENT MAHOUDEAU / AFP) (CLEMENT MAHOUDEAU /)

Since early Sunday morning, Firefighters try to put out the fire that prevents rescuers and sniffer dogs from searching for the missing among the rubble.

A photographer of the AFP found that there was still a big smoke Sunday afternoon.

Marseille - Landslide - France
French President Emmanuel Macron expressed his “excitement” over this tragic event. (CLEMENT MAHOUDEAU / AFP) (CLEMENT MAHOUDEAU /)

The French President, Emmanuel Macronexpressed his “excitement” for this tragic event.

The collapse of two buildings on Rue Aubagne, also in the center of Marseille, in November 2018 left eight dead. These buildings were in a serious state of unsanitary conditions.

(With information from AFP)

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Source-www.infobae.com