At the collapse of two dilapidated houses in the center of Marseille, at least one person died. Rescue workers found the body of a man according to the prosecution. The French government said it had "five to eight victims," Interior Minister Christophe Castaner said during a visit to the area.
Meanwhile, the search continues for missing persons: Firefighters and police clean up the rubble and search with dogs for more victims. Castaner said he was "little optimistic" that survivors would be found as there was little chance of voids in the rubble.
On Monday morning, two houses collapsed, which were considered ailing. When the fire department then used an excavator, a third building partially collapsed, which had been uninhabited for years. The rubble of this house, according to Castaner, squeezed together the remains of the first two collapsed houses.
Two people were easily injured. The injured are passers-by, according to the French newspaper "La Provence". France's head of state Emmanuel Macron assured those affected the "solidarity of the entire nation".
At the same time, there was strong criticism, as many buildings in Marseille are in poor condition. The prominent left-wing politician and former presidential candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon said that "the homes of the poor" collapsed - and that was no coincidence.
The collapsed houses stood in a small shopping street in the center of the city, just a few steps from the Old Port. Photos show that the houses already had large cracks on the facades. "This dramatic accident could be due to the heavy rains that have fallen in recent days in Marseille," it said from the city administration. Investigators are to investigate the collapse.