Sixteen people were killed in an apparent gas explosion in an apartment block in Mulhouse, close to the frontier with Germany, fire officials said Monday. The blast on Sunday, which brought down part of the four-story building and left three people missing, was the deadliest in a residential block in France in 30 years.
Fire fighters who searched the ruins overnight and Monday with sniffer dogs repeatedly revised the death toll upwards as they discovered more bodies.
Fire chief Philippe Schultz, said the sixteenth body pulled out was that of a child.
About 30 people were believed to have been living in the 10 subsidised, low-rent apartments.
Mayor Jean-Marie Bockel said it appeared the explosion resulted from a gas leak on the first or ground of the building, which was built in 1964 and was recently renovated.
Comments
Comments are closed.