Building collapsed in Marseille: Eight people are still missing

Hours after a building collapsed in the city center of the southern French port city of Marseille, eight people are still missing. “Eight people lived in the building and we have no news about these eight at the moment,” Marseille prosecutor Dominique Laurens said on Sunday evening. People would not have answered calls. Relatives had contacted authorities with concern.

Firefighters arrived at the scene just before 1 a.m. There was a fire under the rubble, which made rescue work more difficult. Marseille mayor Benoît Payan said on BFMTV that there is still hope of rescuing people alive, but it was low.

According to the prosecutor, the presumed burials are mainly older people and a couple in their 30s. Children were probably not in the building. A man from a neighboring house may also have been buried under the rubble. His ex-girlfriend stated that she had not reached him after the accident.

A house on Rue Tivoli in the fifth arrondissement of Marseille collapsed shortly after midnight on Sunday. Parts of neighboring houses also collapsed. A few hours later, the house next door completely collapsed.

The reason for the collapse was probably an explosion. “At the moment it is impossible to give the reasons for this explosion, because the surveyor (…) has not yet been able to enter the site due to the obvious risks,” said public prosecutor Laurens. The situation has not yet stabilized.

After the collapse, a fire broke out under the rubble. Because it is suspected that people are under the rubble, the fire brigade cannot extinguish the flames with foam and water as usual. Due to the hot temperatures and the smell of fire, the sniffer dogs cannot properly search for the buried persons. (sda/dpa)