visualize the extent of the damage caused by the strong explosion

Witnesses speak of a ” scary noise”of a ” bomb“or to have seen a” fireball“. The day after the explosion of a building rue Saint-Jacques, in the 5th arrondissement of Paris, a “interim reporte” of the Paris public prosecutor’s office indicates Thursday, June 22 to franceinfo that there are six people in absolute emergency and that one person is still wanted. The Paris public prosecutor’s office specifies that there are in all ” fifty victims“, this figure also includes people psychologically shocked by the explosion.

>> Explosion of a building in Paris: “We heard a huge explosion, we saw rubble and lots of things flying everywhere”, testifies the general secretary of Catholic Education

The prefect of police detailed the sequence of events: ” At 4:55 p.m., at 277 rue Saint-Jacques, there was an explosion inside a building which notably houses the American Fashion Academy”. The explosion “immediately led to a violent fire“which spread to two other buildings.

The ongoing search promises to be delicate and long: the emergency services report a huge pile of rubble in the heart of Paris, as shown in this “before / after” the collapse of this building on rue Saint-Jacques .

The gas trail

If the authorities, like Laurent Nunez, the prefect of Paris, have called for ” caution on the causes of this explosionn”, the gas track is privileged, learned this Thursday franceinfo from a source close to the file. According to the public prosecutor of Paris, Laure Beccuau, the first observations on the ground suggest that the explosion started from the inside an old building. The huge blocks of stone that make up its facade were thrown towards the street, outwards, deciphers a source close to the file at franceinfo.

An investigation for “involuntary injuries aggravated by the deliberate endangerment of the life of others” has been opened. The public prosecutor of Paris, Laure Beccuau, explains that it is a question of verifying “if there was a non-respect of a regulation or an individual recklessness which would have led to this explosion, which itself would have led to these injuries”.

To determine the origin and responsibilities of the explosion, dozens of investigators are mobilized. From the end of the afternoon, three main services got down to tracing the chronology of the facts, by collecting the testimonies of the inhabitants, passers-by and the lightest victims, those who are able to be heard.

The police can also use videos possibly filmed by witnesses on their smartphones, as well as photos of the site and the analysis of images from CCTV cameras provided by the city of Paris.