The search continued, Thursday, June 22, to find a person still missing in the rubble of a building in the 5th arrondissement of Paris, destroyed on Wednesday by a very strong explosion of undetermined origin which left six seriously injured.
“The intermediate toll of victims at 9 a.m. was six victims in absolute emergency, and still around fifty victims in total”, announced Thursday the Paris prosecutor’s office, stressing that “these figures were always subject to change”. Among these fifty people, some are injured, others said to be “involved”, that is to say affected to more or less direct degrees. The increase in the number is explained in particular by the fact that these people continue to report themselves.
Of the two people who were sought under the rubble, one turned out to have already been treated at the hospital. Research continues for the second.
The facts occurred on Wednesday shortly before 5 p.m., rue Saint-Jacques. An explosion followed by a fire caused the collapse of a 17th century building. This historical monument, a pavilion bordering the main courtyard of the former Val-de-Grâce abbey, housed the Paris American Academy, a private fashion school. According to a student’s mother speaking on the school’s Facebook page, there were no students in the school’s classrooms on Wednesday because they were attending a fashion week show in Paris .
“The balance sheet could have been heavier” if courses had taken place, noted the first deputy mayor of Paris, Emmanuel Grégoire, on Franceinfo.
The reception unit, open Wednesday at the end of the day at the town hall of the 5th arrondissement, with the support of city services and social landlords (Paris Habitat and RIVP), continued Thursday to provide care for victims. and affected residents, according to a press release from the Paris City Hall on Thursday. After relocating “ten people without accommodation” last night, and who requested it, in city structures or in hotels, “the City of Paris will continue to provide this support for next nights,” the statement read. Forty people were also taken care of by the city’s medico-psychological emergency unit, which maintained this aid system on Thursday.
“Explosion of Unimaginable Force”
On site, the security perimeter has been greatly reduced. The firefighters authorized a few residents under escort to pick up personal effects.
Barricades set up on rue Saint-Jacques, in front of the student residence of the Maison des Mines, kept onlookers and journalists at a distance from the collapsed building, in front of which rubble was piling up.
Damage is to be deplored in a wide area. Several witnesses and residents, interviewed by Agence France-Presse, said they smelled gas and heard a “big explosion”. “One of my collaborators strongly smelled the smell of gas and went to see what was happening under the porch”, said Thursday morning on RMC Philippe Delorme, secretary general of Catholic education, whose premises are nearby. immediately from the collapsed building. “As the accountant dialed the phone number” for the gas supplier’s emergency service, “the explosion occurred,” he continued.
Director of the Schola Cantorum, a nearby college of music, Michel Denis describes “an apocalyptic war scene”, with “the ground shaking”, “windows shattered”, and “a blast of unimaginable force”. “Thank goodness it was the first day of vacation, so there were very few students there,” the man said.
The Paris public prosecutor’s office opened an investigation for “involuntary injuries by manifestly deliberate violation of an obligation of prudence or security”. The “first elements (…) lead us to confirm that this explosion started from the building”, declared on the spot the public prosecutor of Paris, Laure Beccuau. “We are obviously counting on the victims in relative urgency to give us the first elements of investigation and understanding of what may have happened,” she added.
The Paris judicial police have been seized. Some 270 firefighters and 70 vehicles were deployed to the scene on Wednesday afternoon. The firefighters “prevented the spread of the fire to two adjoining buildings which were seriously destabilized by the explosion” and “were evacuated”, said the prefect of police, Laurent Nuñez, at the start of the evening.
The gas has been cut in a wide area. “About 700 homes and a student residence” had been deprived of it since Wednesday evening, “their supply has been cut for security reasons”, indicated the distributor GRDF, stressing that “we cannot advance a case” on the reason for the accident.
