“The main difficulty remains the risk of an adjacent building collapsing,” said Admiral Lionel Mathieu.

Is the figure of four people missing in the collapse of the rue de Tivoli building correct? How many people are the firefighters looking for among the rubble? “We are indeed looking for four people”confirms Admiral Lionel Mathieu. “Which does not exclude that we can look for others”adds the sailor-firefighter from Marseille (Bouches-du-Rhône). “Because the police department estimate is eight people who were missing, or reported missing by their families, and to date we have discovered four bodies in the rubble”specifies Lionel Mathieu, who coordinates the action of the sailors-firefighters on this operation.

Large mass of rubble

The mayor of Marseille Benoît Payan spoke of the “surgical” work of the marine firefighters. What is the main difficulty faced by marine firefighters in their research? “Until now we have been facing several difficulties, including a fire that occurred at the scene of the explosion, this risk is now behind us, because we have curbed it tonight, although we remain disturbed by a number of smoke and combustion”, describes Admiral Lionel Mathieu. The main difficulty remains the risk of collapse of an adjacent building, and the large mass of rubble. The sailor-firefighter recognizes that over time, “the chances of finding survivors are dwindling”.