The building of a fashion school collapsed this afternoon in Paris very close to the Val de Grâce hospital caused by a gas explosion that caused a large fire which spread to several buildings and caused at least 37 injuries and two missing.
The French Interior Minister, Gérald Darmanin, who has raised the number of wounded, indicated tonight that 33 of them are stable, although the remaining four continue to have an “absolute emergency” forecast. “It is possible that we will find bodies tonight under the rubble,” he added, according to the French newspaper. le figaro.
Police have previously stated that “Most of the injured are collateral victimsinjured by the effect of the explosion and projections” of debris, where rescue teams work to locate at least two people declared missing.
rescue teams they strive to locate among the rubble from a building at least two people declared missing. The Paris Police Prefect, Laurent Núñez, has reported that the search for possible victims and missing persons continues. In statements to the press together with the mayoress of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, Núñez noted that the fire was contained.
A gas explosion as the main hypothesis
The prefect of police showed himself “extremely prudent” about the origin of the deflagrationalthough from the first moments the number two of the mayor’s office of the V district in which the events occurred, Édouard Civel, had affirmed that it all began with a gas explosion in the Alfonse Laveran square.
A thesis in which the French Prime Minister, Élisabeth Borne, had also abounded, and which had been accredited by some witnesses, who said they had noticed a strong smell of gas.
The Paris prosecutor, Laure Beccuau, had an impact, like Núñez, on the same idea that “for now, nothing allows us to determine the origin of the incident” and said that technical investigations will be carried out and the images from the surveillance cameras will be analyzed.
Beccuau pointed out that all the elements point to the fact that the deflagration came from inside the building that partially collapsed, in which the Paris American Academya fashion school on rue Saint Jacques.
The prosecutor announced the opening of an investigation into the causes that caused the injuries and endangered the lives of third parties, to try to determine if there could have been any individual imprudence or if some safety rules were breached.
Police and military agents established a security cordon to block the passage in the adjacent streets, where they acted against the flames. more than 200 firefighters with various vehicles to extinguish the flames.
Macron conveys his support
The President of France, Emmanuel Macronhas launched a message of support for the victims of the explosion, and has made the services of the Ministry of the Interior available to those affected and their families.
“All the services of the Ministry of the Interior are on the side of the city and on the side of the victims of the explosion,” said the French president during a music festival held tonight at the Élysée.
