The first assessment reports three serious injuries. If the fire is under control, it is however advisable to avoid the area.
The Paris firefighters indicated on Friday March 4 in the morning via Twitter that an explosion in an apartment building had taken place in Aubervilliers, in Seine-Saint-Denis, rue André Karman. An intervention was underway. For the moment, the balance sheet amounts to three people seriously injured, we learned from the prefecture of the department and the firefighters.
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The origin of the explosion has not been determined at this stage but, according to a police source interviewed by Le Figaroit would be a gas leak.
The explosion hascarried away a substantial part of a buildingfour floors of rue André Karman, the prefecture told AFP.
The emergency services have been mobilized since 5:30 a.m. on this incident, which requires the mobilization of “more than 200 firefightersof the Paris fire brigade and 71 machines, added this source from the prefecture, present on the spot.
The explosion caused a fire quickly extinguished, indicated for their part the Paris firefighters who proceeded to the evacuation of several dozen people housed in the twelve apartments of the building as well as in adjacent buildings.
The inhabitants all havea prioriwere evacuated, specifies the prefecture. According to this source, the provisional balance sheet amounts to three people in absolute emergency and 19 people in relative emergency, whose days are not in danger.
The operations focused in the morning on the search for possible victims in the rubble, with the help of a canine team, and the securing of the building which threatens to collapse, said the firefighters.
A security perimeter has been set up to secure the surroundings of the weakened building, and an architect was expected on site this morning to determine the damage and the possible risk of collapse.
On Twitter, firefighters recommend avoiding the area and asking residents to be careful.