Building collapses in southern port city of Marseilles, France

Two bodies have been found in the rubble of a building which crumbled after an explosion in the southern French port city of Marseilles and at least six people are still missing.

The mayor of the French port city of Marseille, Benoit Payan, said on Monday “there is still hope” of finding survivors after a building collapsed in a major explosion.

Two bodies have been found in the rubble of the building, which crumbled after a blast early Sunday morning, and six people are still missing.

“There is still hope, and as long as there is hope we will not stop,” said Payan, at the scene of the disaster.

Five people from neighbouring buildings were hurt in a possible explosion that destroyed the four-storey block at around 12.40am local time on Sunday.

Local prosecutor Dominique Laurens told reporters that eight people “were not responding to phone calls”, saying it was impossible so far to identify the cause of the collapse.

A gas explosion was “clearly” one of the possible causes, she added.

Multiple witnesses reported hearing the sound of a blast. “I was sleeping and there was this huge blast that really shook the room. I was shocked awake as if I had been dreaming,” Saveria Mosnier, who lives in a street near the site in the La Plaine neighbourhood, told AFP.

“We very quickly smelled a strong gas odour that hung around, we could still smell it this morning,” she said.

Smoke was still rising from the mound of rubble on Sunday afternoon.

“We have to be prepared to have fatalities in this terrible tragedy,” Marseilles mayor Benoit Payan had earlier told journalists at the scene.

The building collapsed in Marseille, southern France, on April 9, 2023. Picture: AFP.

"We have to be prepared to have victims," the mayor of Marseille warned after a four-storey apartment building collapsed in the centre of France's second city. Picture: AFP.

More than 100 firefighters were battling the blaze in the ruins of the building, believed to have one apartment on each floor.

The intense heat as the building burns has kept search dogs from picking through the rubble, with Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin saying it would be “several hours … maybe even longer” before the fire was out.

“Time is of the essence” to discover possible survivors among the ruins, Marseilles fire chief Lionel Mathieu said.

The rescuers’ task has been complicated by the partial collapse of one of the adjoining buildings, where eight people had to be brought down by ladder after taking refuge on a roof terrace.

Other buildings on the street were evacuated and around 180 residents put up in schools, while an aid centre for people looking for missing family members or loved ones has been opened in a neighbouring district.

CAUSE OF BLAST UNCLEAR

Deputy mayor Yannick Ohanessian told journalists at the scene that “several witnesses have reached us this morning to say there was a suspicious smell of gas”.

“A lot of families in the neighbourhood are afraid,” said Arnaud Dupleix, the president of a parents’ association at the nearby Tivoli elementary school, who sprang into action to co-ordinate aid for those evacuated.

Eight were killed in Marseilles in 2018 when two dilapidated buildings in the working-class district of Noailles caved in.

The accident cast a harsh light on the city’s housing standards, with aid groups saying 40,000 people live in shoddy structures.

But authorities appeared to rule out structural issues in the latest collapse, in a neighbourhood known for its bars and night-life.

“There was no danger notice for this building, and it is not in a neighbourhood identified as having substandard housing,” said Christophe Mirmand, prefect of the Bouches-du-Rhone region.

Firefighter scour through the rubble in search of survivors or bodies. Picture: AFP.

FIRE HAMPERS SEARCH IN FRANCE BUILDING COLLAPSE

The collapse of a four-storey residential building in Marseilles on Sunday left at least five people from surrounding structures injured, but a fire was preventing rescue workers in their search for victims, officials said.

The collapse of the building in the port city in southern France damaged parts of the two surrounding buildings.

Marseilles mayor Benoit Payan said so far, five people have been confirmed injured from two residences next to the collapsed building in the central La Plaine district, but the fire in the rubble was “ongoing”.

“(The fire) is extremely difficult to control … The firefighters are judging minute by minute how best to put out this fire because there are potentially people alive inside,” he said.

“We have to be prepared to have victims in this terrible tragedy.”

Rescue workers at the scene of a building collapse in Marseilles. Picture: Nicolas Tucat/AFP

The streets around the collapsed building were cordoned off and choked with dust. Firefighters could be seen attempting to work their way through the building debris.

“We are trying to speed up the (search and rescue operations) because time is of essence,” but the search dogs cannot keep up in the heat, said the commander of the Marseilles marine firefighters, Lionel Mathieu.

It remains unclear how many residents were in the collapsed building, authorities said.

But rescue workers are in a race against time to evacuate damaged neighbouring buildings also at risk of collapse.

“At the moment, we are clearing the buildings next door, taking care not to endanger the people who could be beneath the rubble,” the mayor said.

In the surrounding buildings, more than 30 residents were “affected”, while five were injured. All evacuees were currently sheltering in schools and nurseries.

Regional prefect Christophe Mirmand said there were “strong suspicions” that an explosion caused the collapse, possibly a gas leak.

A late-night food vendor working on the street said “everything shook” during what sounded like an explosion.

“We saw people running and there was smoke everywhere,” said Aziz, who declined to give his last name.

Dust rises from the scene of a building collapse in Marseilles. Picture: Nicolas Tucat/AFP

Rescuers work at the scene where a building collapsed in the southern French port city of Marseilles. Picture: Nicolas Tucat/AFP

Gilles, who lives on a side street near the fallen building, said the sound of the crash “was huge”.

“It sounded like an explosion,” said Gilles, who declined to provide his last name.

Another major structural collapse occurred in Marseilles in November 2018, when two dilapidated buildings in the working-class district of Noailles caved in, killing eight people.

The accident cast a light on the city’s housing standards.

But authorities appeared to rule out structural issues in the latest collapse, in a neighbourhood known for its bars and night-life.