'Everything shook': Building collapse in Marseille leaves two dead, six people still missing

Marseille, France: A four-story building in the French city of Marseille collapsed in the wee hours of Sunday, leaving two people dead while six people are still missing.Mayor Benoit Payan said on Monday that "there's still hope" of finding survivors from the rubble of the collapsed building.Officials on Sunday said that rescue operations were getting hampered due to a fire in the surrounding area.Payan told reporters that the building collapsed at 12:40 am (2240 GMT), damaging parts of two buildings in its surrounding."(The fire) is extremely difficult to control... The firefighters are judging minute by minute how best to put out this fire because there are potentially people alive inside," Payan saidHe warned the authorities to stay prepared to pull out victims from the rubble.The streets around the collapsed building were cordoned off and choked with dust. Firefighters could be seen attempting to work their way through the building debris."We are trying to speed up the (search and rescue operations) because time is of the essence," but the search dogs cannot keep up in the heat, said the commander of the Marseille marine firefighters, Lionel Mathieu.Authorities are however unable to determine the number of residents who were housed in the residential building.The mayor said, "At the moment, we are clearing the buildings next door, taking care not to endanger the people who could be beneath the rubble."'Sounded like an explosion'Apart from residents living in the building, people in surrounding areas also complained of getting "affected" by the collapse. All the evacuees are currently sheltered in schools and nurseries.Regional prefect Christophe Mirmand told AFP there were "strong suspicions" that an explosion caused the collapse, possibly a gas leak.A street vendor in the nearby area who witnessed the building collapse said that it felt like "everything shook"."We saw people running and there was smoke everywhere," he said.Gilles, who lives on a side street near the fallen building, told AFP the sound of the crash "was huge"."It sounded like an explosion," said Gilles, also declining to provide his last name.With inputs from agenciesRead all the Latest News, Trending News, Cricket News, Bollywood News,India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.