Emergency crew chief Bernard Tourneur said the search would continue for at least 24 hours with care, since the remainder of the building left standing "is threatening to cave in". Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve, who visited the scene, and police initially pointed to a gas leak as a likely cause of the blast. A fire service commander, Gabriel Plus, said gas and electricity works had been ongoing at the site, but would not confirm their link to the disaster. GRDF, the company in charge of delivering gas to homes, told AFP that "no leaks had been reported previously" in the area. Neighbour Maryline Yyvon suggested the explosion was indeed the result of a gas leak. "They'd been digging under the sidewalk just in front of the building," she told AFP. "Given the force of explosion, it wasn't just a gas canister, that's for sure," she said. Deputy Mayor Serge Deneulin said the building dates from the 1970s and was "in perfect shape". City officials set up a makeshift shelter in a nearby school with an on-site medical team for families hit by the blast. 500w Folding Electric Treadmill Portable Motorized Running Machine Black New
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Early indications were that it was an accidental gas explosion. "Our house moved, we were trembling from fear," said Pauline, a neighbour, adding that the explosion was so loud that "our ears were ringing".
Ghislaine Poletto, 55, who lives about 50 metres away from the collapsed building, said she "jumped into her trousers" and rushed to the site, where together with neighbours "we managed to pull two children out".
One of the children was "protected by a mattress and a board above his head, which saved his life," she said.
Firefighters said 11 people were injured in the explosion, four of them seriously. Two of the injured were children aged 10 and 13.
Gaetan de Raucourt, head of the Paris firefighting department, said there was still hope that occupants had found "pockets of air" amid the wood and dusty concrete rubble, which was piled a storey high and fanned out into the street.
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