A building collapsed overnight from Saturday to Sunday in the center of Marseille, France’s second city, and emergency services are on site, police told AFP, who could not specify at this stage whether victims are to be deplored.
The streets around the building, located in a district of the center of the city, are cordoned off and many rescuers are present, noted an AFP photographer on the spot. In some of the surrounding streets there was still dust floating around.
“It was huge as an explosion,” said AFP Gilles, a man who preferred to keep his last name silent, but who lives in a street perpendicular to that of the collapsed building.
“A building has collapsed, help is on site, the cause is not determined,” two police officials told AFP. The firefighters could not provide any information at this stage.
In November 2018, eight people died in the collapse of two buildings in another district of this city in the south of France. These buildings were in a serious state of unsanitary condition.