Search for survivors after two buildings collapse in Marseille
President Emmanuel Macron said it was unknown if anyone was killed or trapped.
Two buildings have collapsed into a pile of rubble and beams in the French city of Marseille and authorities are in a race against time to find people possibly trapped in the ruins.
The buildings — one condemned and supposedly vacant, the other containing apartments — gave way after 9am. In the spot where they had stood, a large gap appeared once the dust and debris settled.
Fire services said two people who were in the street when the buildings collapsed were treated for light injuries.
President Emmanuel Macron said on Monday evening that it was unknown if anyone was killed or trapped.
Authorities said one building had been condemned as substandard and was assumed to be unoccupied, but the other was inhabited.
Housing minister Julien Denormandie said at the scene he could not rule out that people were trapped in the collapse.
“It’s a race against the clock,” he said. “The urgent task is to determine whether there are people we can save.”
Images of the buildings before they collapsed, visible on Google Street View, showed that one had five floors and the other six.
One of the buildings was clearly in poor repair, with boarded-up windows and large visible cracks on the facade.
Sabine Bernasconi, the local mayor for that part of Marseille, said one of the buildings was subject to an evacuation order, but could not say for sure that squatters were not using it.
The regional prefecture urged people to avoid the area and make way for emergency services.
