A gas explosion took place in the fifth arrondissement of Paris, resulting in a fire affecting some buildings, the mayor of the arrondissement said on Twitter.
Paris police urged people to avoid the area.
Breaking: There is a large fire in the 5th arrondissement after a gas explosion in Paris, France. pic.twitter.com/eed22DvxeU
— PM Breaking News (@PMBreakingNews) June 21, 2023
At least seven people were critically injured in the explosion, police said.
The blast ripped through a street in the busy Latin Quarter of central Paris, causing the facade of one building to collapse, blowing out windows and starting a huge blaze.
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Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said the fire was locted on Rue Saint-Jacques in the 5th arrondissement close to the Jardin du Luxembourg and the Sorbonne University.
BFM TV showed fire services sealing off the hire and trying to hose down a building, and Parisians posted images on Twitter of a huge plume of smoke that was visible across much of the city.
Journalist Olivier Galzi told BFM TV that he had seen the facade of a nearby building “completely collapse.”
“This is chaos,” said Christopher Gaglione, who said he witnessed the scene.
“I heard a huge explosion,” said local bar employee Khal Ilsey. “And as I was leaving the restaurant, I saw flames at the end of Rue Saint-Jacques.”
More than 200 firefighters were involved in the emergency response. TV images showed firefighters manning hoses and aiming jets of water at the blaze while a plume of thick black smoke billowed into the sky.
The blast occurred in the Rue Saint-Jacques in the 5th arrondissement of central Paris. The road leads from the Notre-Dame de Paris cathedral to the Sorbonne University and the Val de Grace military hospital and is a few blocks from the popular Jardin du Luxembourg.
The area is usually packed with tourists and foreign students in the early summer.
