Two bodies were found in the rubble of a building that collapsed in Marseille following a major explosion, French authorities said yesterday, as rescue workers scrambled to find at least six people still unaccounted for.
More than 24 hours after the four-story building imploded, with residents reporting a strong smell of gas, dozens of firefighters were still battling a blaze that has hampered search operations.
However, the mayor of the Mediterranean port city said rescue workers have not given up hope of finding survivors.
Photo: AFP
“There is still hope, and as long as there is hope, we will not stop,” Marseille Mayor Benoit Payan said at the scene of the disaster.
He said emergency workers were carrying out a “surgical” operation at the site, to “protect at all costs” any potential survivors.
The building was believed to have one apartment on each floor.
The fire at the site has made it hard for sniffer dogs to detect more victims or survivors.
“Given the particular difficulties of intervention, the extraction [of the bodies from the site] will take time,” the fire department said in a statement announcing that the bodies had been found.
On Sunday, before the bodies were discovered, local prosecutor Dominique Laurens told reporters that eight people “were not responding to phone calls.”
Five people from neighboring buildings sustained minor injuries in the blast and collapse, which occurred at about 12:40am on Sunday. The cause of the explosion was still to be determined, but investigators were looking at the possibility it was the result of a gas leak.
“I was sleeping and there was this huge blast that really shook the room. I was shocked awake as if I had been dreaming,” said Saveria Mosnier, who lives on a street near the site in the La Plaine neighborhood. “We very quickly smelled a strong gas odor that hung around, we could still smell it this morning.”
Marseille Deputy Mayor Yannick Ohanessian told journalists at the scene that several witnesses had reported “a suspicious smell of gas.”
Two buildings next to the destroyed property were severely damaged, with one collapsing later in the day without injuring any rescuers.
Almost 200 residents have been evacuated and 50 have requested to be urgently rehoused.
An aid center for people looking for missing family members or loved ones has been opened in a neighboring district.
“A lot of families in the neighborhood are afraid,” said Arnaud Dupleix, the president of a parents’ association at nearby Tivoli Elementary School, which sprang into action to coordinate aid for those evacuated.
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