The collapsed building in Marseille weakens 43 buildings

“At 00:49, on the night of Saturday April 8 to Sunday April 9, a building at 17, rue Tivoli in the 5th arrondissement collapsed following an explosion. In the following hours, the adjacent buildings, at the number 15 and number 19 are partially collapsed. These three buildings were not affected by a danger decree.” The second city of France is, once again, bereaved by a collapse of buildings, which occurred during the Easter weekend, less than five years after the tragedy in the rue d’Aubagne, which killed 8 people, in November 2018 The town hall reacted very early, the mayor, Benoît Payan, going there at dawn.

Unlike the drama of 2018, the collapse of the rue de Tivoli has, a priori, no relation to the dilapidation of the building. The mayor, then the prefect and finally the Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, all affirmed that there was no decree of danger on this building, located in a street without any particular problem of insalubrity. All the State representatives, on the other hand, pointed to the track, unconfirmed at the time of writing, of a gas leak. The town hall said “having received testimonies reporting strong odors of gas”.

Six dead bodies found under the rubble

Monday evening, the results were already grim: the hundred firefighters at work to find survivors in the rubble, whose task was returned “very complex” by a persistent fire amid the rubble, extracted six lifeless bodies from the site. Two other missing persons are still being sought. Finally, five people, residents of the neighboring buildings of 17, were injured, but “none is between life and death”said Sunday the Minister of the Interior.

In all, 43 buildings were evacuated and 200 residents were taken care of, indicates the Franceinfo site. Among them, “150 people have found the means to relocate with families or friends”, explained the mayor of Marseille. In addition, 50 people requested emergency rehousing. Benoît Payan, let it be known on Monday that “The surrounding buildings are becoming more and more fragile. There are fumaroles, the fire is not completely extinguished. It is a long and tedious job.” According to him, “There is still hope” to find survivors.