At least four people were seriously injured, Wednesday, June 21 in the afternoon in the heart of Paris, where a fire broke out after an explosion in a building which collapsed, according to a provisional report.
The police headquarters reported at the beginning of the evening of four people in absolute emergency and twenty-five others in relative emergency. According to the prosecution, two people were wanted in the rubble of the building.
Some 270 firefighters were engaged on the scene, in the district of the former military hospital of Val de Grace, in the 5th arrondissement. “It’s a provisional report” because “there are still searches under the rubble” but the fire “is contained”, declared the prefect of police, Laurent Nuñez, during a press point on the spot around 6:30 p.m. The 270 firefighters dispatched, who mobilized 70 machines, “prevented the spread of the fire to two adjoining buildings which were seriously destabilized by the explosion” and “were evacuated”, he added. Firefighters initially reported the collapse of two buildings. But according to police sources, only one building collapsed.
The Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, has decided to cut short a trip to Nancy to return to Paris, according to his entourage. The mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo, whose services activated the crisis unit, is also on the scene.
“There is nothing to determine the origin of the disaster” at this stage, indicated the Paris prosecutor’s office, which opened an investigation for “involuntary injuries by violation of an obligation of prudence or safety”. The Paris judicial police have been seized.
The facts occurred shortly before 5 p.m. at 277 rue Saint-Jacques, where a private fashion school, the Paris American Academy, is located near the Notre-Dame du Val-de-Grâce church.
“We heard a huge explosion around 4:50 p.m. And there, we evacuated and found very quickly that the American Academy building was on fire and collapsed,” said on BFMTV the secretary general of Catholic education, Philippe Delorme, whose premises are within the perimeter. The American Academy building is in front, on the street side, he said.
Like a “bombardment”
Several witnesses, interviewed by AFP, said they heard a “big explosion”. Youssef, whose sister lives on the ground floor of 273 rue Saint-Jacques, says that “she was taking a nap and there was a loud explosion, she thought it was an attack”.
“She did not understand anything. Things from her apartment have fallen, there are stones in the yard,” he added. A local resident, who wishes to remain anonymous, told AFP that he “heard a huge explosion which made the windows vibrate”. “I thought it was a bombardment. It echoed in the apartment. I had 10 seconds of great concern, many people were at the windows,” he added.
A snapshot taken by an AFP photographer showed a plume of smoke and flames rising from the ruins of a building. The city of Paris activated its crisis unit and Anne Hidalgo went there.
A security perimeter has been installed, noted an AFP journalist, but residents are allowed to enter part of the rue du Val de Grâce. Many fire trucks were dispatched and a hose sprayed water on the building. The last important event of this type dates back to January 12, 2019. On that day, a strong explosion caused by a gas leak blew the rue de Trévise, in the 9th arrondissement of Paris, killing four people including two firefighters, injuring 66 others and leaving some 400 victims.