FRANCE – A violent explosion has rocked the centre of Paris yesterday, destroying part of a building and sending smoke rising over the French capital. The cause of the explosion was unclear but witnesses suggested a gas leak may have been the cause. Residents living near the site of the blast in the 6th arrondissement were evacuated. Photos of the scene showed firefighters scaling ladders to fight a blaze on the upper floors of a historic apartment block, with wood, debris and shattered glass littering the street.

Emergency services had been called to a fire in a ground floor apartment on Rue de Berite before the blast at around 12.20pm local time, Le Parisien reported. “Firefighters were there for an hour-and-a-half trying to extinguish a fire on the ground floor, when a huge explosion shook the whole neighborhood,” a resident told the newspaper. “It’s terrible, I saw several firefighters taken away on stretchers.”

(The Independent UK)…[+]