Paris ‘gas explosion’ kills three in city centre

BBC – Two firefighters and a Spanish woman have been killed after a huge blast at a bakery in France’s capital, Paris.

The emergency services were responding to a gas leak when “a dramatic explosion” occurred, said Interior Minister Christophe Castaner.

Forty-seven people were injured, 10 seriously, in the blast on rue de Trévise at around 09:00 (08:00 GMT).

It happened near the Paris Opera, a popular tourist area, and was felt several streets away.

In the immediate aftermath, overturned cars and debris from other shop fronts littered the street in front of the burning bakery as people stood around, looking stunned by the force of the explosion.

What happened?

The Hubert bakery at 6, rue de Trévise was not due to be open at the time of the blast, Le Parisien newspaper reports.

A gas leak had been reported in the building and firefighters had been on their way to deal with it when the explosion occurred.

Helicopters landed on the nearby place de l’Opéra to evacuate the injured, Reuters news agency reports.

A passing journalist, Emily Molli, described the vast extent of the damage.

A resident named Killian was asleep when the explosion blew in his windows. Everybody in the building came downstairs, he said, and he could hear screaming.

The blast also destroyed a theatre, he told French news channel BFMTV.

“I was sleeping and woke up by the blast wave,” Claire Sallavuard told AFP news agency.

“All the windows in the apartment exploded, doors were blown off their hinges, I had to walk on the door to leave the room, all the kids were panicking, they couldn’t get out of their room.”