Deadly building collapse follows explosion in Paris suburb
A four-storey building in a Paris suburb collapsed after an explosion yesterday, killing a child and an elderly woman, and emergency teams were searching the rubble for others still missing.
A four-storey building in a Paris suburb collapsed after an explosion yesterday, killing a child and an elderly woman, and emergency teams were searching the rubble for others still missing.
About 150 emergency workers were on hand with sniffer dogs trying to find six people unaccounted for, said Philippe Galli, the prefect of Saint-Seine-Denis.
An eight-year-old died in the building's collapse, and firefighters found an unconscious 80-year-old woman in the debris who died while being taken out, fire department spokesman Gabriel Plus said.
Ten people, four of them seriously wounded, were pulled out of the rubble, he said.
Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve, speaking to reporters at the scene, said the explosion appeared to have been caused by a gas leak.
One side of the building in the suburb of Rosny-sous-Bois was ripped off completely, exposing the interiors of the apartments. Local authorities said the structure itself appeared to conform to building codes.
Local residents who rushed to help in the moments after the blast described a bloody scene.
"We tried to take people out," said Arafet Brahim, adding that he and his friends pulled out some children who appeared to be in good shape.
"But we also took bodies out," he said. "Frankly it was horrible, I don't know how to describe that moment," he said.
The force of the blast shook buildings as far as 100 metres from the site.
"Our house moved, we were trembling from fear," said Pauline. The explosion was so loud that "our ears were ringing," she added.
On Saturday, a gas explosion at a home in Yuen Long in Hong Kong injured six people.
