The Paris Court of Appeal overturned on Wednesday March 30 the order of the investigating judges rejecting the request of the City of Paris, under investigation in this case, for a second opinion on the explosion in the rue de Treviso in January 2019, we learned from lawyers.
Read alsoStreet explosion in Treviso: a hundred victims have still not found their homes
SEE ALSO – Explosion of the rue de Trévise: Three years for nothing?
The investigating chamber of the Court of Appeal deemed it necessary “the appointment of a college of experts with complementary specialties, not only in fire-explosion but also in geology, geotechnics or hydrology“, summarized with the press the lawyer of the town hall of Paris, Me Sabrina Goldman. “We give the possibility to new experts who this time will have the technical skills adapted to the analysis of this accident to determine the causes“, she clarified. The town hall of Paris had seized the Paris Court of Appeal after the refusal of the investigating judges to order a second opinion on the causes of the explosion, caused by a gas leak, on the morning of January 12, 2019.
400 victims
The rue de Trévise, in the center of Paris in the 9th arrondissement, had been blown up by an explosion which had killed four people, including two firefighters, 66 injured and around 400 victims. In a first report in December 2019, a college of four experts concluded that a subsidence of the ground, under the sidewalk, in front of number 6 of the street, had caused the rupture of a gas pipe, leading to an accumulation of gas. natural source of the explosion. They had noted “shortcomings» of the city’s road service, in particular in the repair of the sidewalk, without incriminating GRDF.
In their final report delivered in May 2020, they again pointed to a “lack of vigilanceof the City of Paris and called into question the syndic of co-ownership of the building. The latter would have been slow to repair the leak of a sewage collector which would have had an impact on the subsidence of the ground. Three months after the submission of this report, the City of Paris and the syndic of co-ownership were indicted for “manslaughter and manslaughter” and “destruction, degradation or deterioration by the effect of an explosion or fire“.
Read alsoSanary in shock after the collapse of a building
The construction company Fayolle, responsible for carrying out work on the sidewalk above the gas pipeline, was placed under the more favorable status of assisted witness, while GRDF escaped prosecution. It is now up to the investigating judges, who announced on December 13, 2021 the closure of the investigations without waiting for the examination of the city’s appeal, to order a second opinion.
SEE ALSO – Explosion rue de Trévise: the victims regret a late agreement