A woman is still missing and four people are in dire straits as of Friday night after a very powerful explosion of unknown origin destroyed a building in Paris on Wednesday, prosecutors said.
• Also read: Collapse of a building in Paris: Six seriously injured, one missing
• Also read: Four seriously injured and two missing when a building collapses in Paris
The person wanted in the rubble is a woman, a professor at the Paris American Academy, a school specializing in fashion, we learned from sources familiar with the matter.
In a press release on Friday evening, the Paris prosecutor’s office pointed out that the search for this missing person “is made more difficult by the risk of the adjacent building collapsing and the difficulty of clearing away blocks of cut stone”.
AFP
The incident happened on Wednesday at 277 rue Saint-Jacques, a thoroughfare in the center of the capital. An explosion followed by fire caused the collapse of a listed 17th-century pavilion bordering the main courtyard of the former Val-de-Grâce Abbey, which housed a private fashion school, the Paris American Academy.
In addition, “four people are still in an emergency” in the hospital, the prosecutor said.
AFP
“Of the other 54 victims, most suffered minor injuries or mental shock. 48 other people have reported being involved, meaning they may have suffered harm,” the prosecutor added, clarifying that the “counting” of victims is continuing.
As of Friday morning, the sector was still largely cordoned off by a security perimeter, an AFP journalist noted. The workers smashed the weak windows on the street.
In the surrounding streets, everyone is talking about the explosion. Still stunned residents recall “the ferocity of their breath” they felt even several blocks from the fashion school and the “suffocation” from the large plume of black smoke that ravaged the facade.
The Paris public prosecutor’s office has launched an investigation into involuntary violations that have resulted in a total disability of more than three months through an apparent willful breach of a duty of care or safety.
“The first elements (…) allow us to confirm that this explosion came from the building,” said prosecutor Laure Beccuau.
On Wednesday afternoon, around 270 firefighters and 70 vehicles were deployed at the scene of the accident.
The 5th arrondissement city hall told AFP that 580 customers were still without gas as of Friday.