At least 24 people have been injured, including four in critical condition, after an explosion started a fire in Paris, police said.
The blast was followed by a major fire that caused one building, housing a fashion school, to collapse, as well as an adjacent building, emergency services said.
Some 70 fire trucks and 230 firefighters were battling the blaze which was contained by the early evening. Nine doctors were also at the scene.
The fire service said there had been “an explosion” which had “caused the collapse of two buildings” on Wednesday.
The cause of the blast was not immediately clear.
The “violent” fire which broke out after the explosion has now been “contained”, Paris police Chief Laurent Nunez said at the scene, adding that “work is still taking place under the rubble” to find any more possible victims.
Prosecutors said two people were still missing following the blast.
The firefighters “prevented the spread of the fire to two adjoining buildings which were seriously destabilised by the explosion” and “were evacuated”, Nunez added.
Florence Berthout, mayor of the arrondissement, said, “The explosion was extremely violent,” describing pieces of glass still falling from buildings.
Source: Aljazeera