Interior Minister Géral Darmanin said up to 10 people were under rubble after an explosion that caused the collapse of two residential buildings in Marseille, southern France, on Sunday.

The causes of the explosion are not yet known.

The collapse caused the fire to spread, making rescue efforts difficult. The interior minister indicated that authorities estimated that there were between four and ten people under the rubble.

Five people were taken to hospital with serious but non-life-threatening injuries, and a sixth person is in a state of shock.

I confirm, explosion on gas, rue Tivoli in Marseille, dance le quinquième, l’immeuble a été soufflé #Marseilles pic.twitter.com/cIWSqiIn6G

— nymerys (@naymerys) April 8, 2023

According to Darmanen, it is not known whether there were structural problems in the buildings that collapsed in the area of ​​Tivoli Street.

“The explosion was huge”

“There are strong suspicions that the collapse was the result of an explosion, but we must be very careful about the causes at this stage,” said the prefect of the southern region of France, Christophe Merman, at the same time, specifying that natural gas could represent a “probable case” .

🚨🇫🇷URGENT – The explosion that will take place on the impeccable Tivoli Street #Marseilles. (📹@aurelien1335) pic.twitter.com/xJmFFnIzCH

— AlertesInfos (@AlertesInfos) April 8, 2023

“The explosion was huge,” Gilles, who asked not to be named and lives in a house on a street perpendicular to the building that collapsed, told AFP.

According to an AFP photojournalist who was there, several streets around the building, which is located in the central area of ​​the city, were blocked, and many ambulances arrived at the scene.

Un immeuble s’est effondré rue Tivoli a #Marseilles après une bang ressentie dans une bonne party de la ville@Aurelien1335/@GQuiquerez pic.twitter.com/ALaZOJlDqA

— Anonymous Citizen (@AnonymeCitoyen) April 8, 2023

The fire service is not yet able to calculate how many people could be inside the apartment building at the time of its collapse.

“We have about 100 firefighters on site, the priority is obviously to put out the fire and remove the debris to find people who may have been trapped under the rubble,” said at the same time the representative of the Marseille fire service.

Of the two neighboring buildings affected by the collapse of an apartment building at 17 Tivoli Street, 5 victims have already been removed, the mayor of Marseille also specified.

Investigation into the causes of the tragedy

According to Prefect Merman, residents of other houses located on the same street were evacuated from their homes for safety reasons during the three days of this Catholic Easter and placed in a school.

The authorities also launched an investigation to determine the causes of the tragedy.

In November 2018, eight people were killed when two buildings collapsed in another area of ​​Marseille. These were buildings that were not in good condition in this city of 40,000 people, which NGOs complain is in ruins.

🔴 Les images des couristes fouillant les combres du bâtiment blown away by a probable gas explosion in Marseille. Nous sommes de tout cœur Avec victims and their families 🙏#Marseilles #explosion #security #solidarity #TEAR #Tivoli #Victims pic.twitter.com/j4tvQigq3N

— Lazar (@Lazare2423) April 9, 2023

However, the mayor and the prefect seem to have ruled out the possibility that the apartment building that collapsed today, located in an area known for its restaurants, bars and nightclubs, was in poor condition. “There was no decision advising the danger for this building, which is also not in the area where there are reportedly buildings,” which are in poor condition, the prefect noted.

“As far as I know, there were no particular problems in this building,” the mayor also said, emphasizing that this is not a road where the buildings are not in good condition.

^{Source: APE-MEB, AFP.}