Tragedy in the night in Marseille, France: a four-story apartment building collapsed and a fire broke out.
The hell began around midnight and 40 in via Tivoli when the building collapsed, dragging part of two adjacent buildings with it. The intervention of firefighters and rescuers is difficult. The mayor of the city, Benoît Payan, explained that people are being sought under the rubble.
According to French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin, "there could be 10 people down there. We don't know who exactly was in the building. For all we know, there may have been a dozen people living in the building at that time of the morning. Looks like four people were there for sure. We don't know if they are alive or dead."
"We have a hundred men in action: the priority is obviously to put out the fire and clear the area to look for any trapped survivors," added Fire Vice Admiral Lionel Matthew. "The cause of the collapse is not yet determined," police, firefighters and city hall officials said.
The buildings adjacent to the one that came down have been cleared out as a safety measure. "Eleven people have been evacuated: two are in relative emergency, while another nine, including two children, are unharmed," the mayor specified. The streets around the building, in the La Plaine district, are cordoned off by the security forces. "It was like a huge explosion," said a witness.
In November 2018 there was a collapse in via d'Aubagne which involved two buildings in another district of central Marseille, Noailles, eight victims. They were structures that were in serious unhealthy conditions, in a city where NGOs estimate that 40,000 people live in slums.
(Unioneonline/ss)