Europe 1 with AFP // Photo credits: 11:56 a.m., April 8, 2024

This explosion on rue de Tivoli in Marseille, in April 2023, left eight dead and several injured. A gathering in their memory is planned for this Tuesday, because a year later, the causes of this tragedy remain a mystery and the investigation continues, in particular to allow the survivors to be compensated. 

A year after the explosion of a building in the heart of Marseille which left eight dead and several injured on rue de Tivoli, undoubtedly after a gas leak, the investigation continues in order to determine the responsibilities, elements expected by the survivors awaiting compensation.

A very violent explosion

To date "58 civil parties have been formed" and only 20 of them have been heard by the investigating magistrate, the Marseille city prosecutor's office told AFP on Monday. The other auditions will resume from the beginning of May. “A letter rogatory has been issued to the judicial police who are continuing the investigations under the control of the investigating judge. Expertise will soon be carried out, particularly on the technical level and on the medical and psychological levels,” he said. added.

>> READ ALSO -

Paris: three dead in a fire in a building in the 11th arrondissement

This explosion of great violence which occurred in the middle of the night from April 8 to 9, the eve of Easter 2023, led to the immediate collapse of the building located at 17 rue de Tivoli, in a lively and family-friendly district of center of Marseille. The hypothesis of a gas leak has always been favored by investigators. A second building, located at number 15, also collapsed a few hours after the first, after being evacuated.

The investigation has so far confirmed that the explosion occurred on the first floor of the building, the floor where a single 88-year-old woman, Antoinietta Alaimo (wife Vaccaro), lived, one of the eight victims. Among the other people who died in this tragedy, a couple in their thirties but above all historical and elderly figures from this lively family neighborhood.

The drama still unexplained

The investigation carried out as part of a judicial investigation against X for "homicide and involuntary injuries", entrusted to several investigating judges, is continuing. It consists of "searching for the mechanism that led to a flow of gas then to activation and determining whether clumsiness, imprudence, inattention, negligence or a failure to comply with an obligation of caution or safety imposed by law or regulation is to be the origin of the deaths or injuries", indicated in April 2023 the prosecutor at the time, Dominique Laurens.

“To follow several constitutions of civil parties relating to the material consequences, in particular real estate, of the explosion”, the Marseille prosecutor's office extended the investigation on January 18 to the facts of “destruction, degradation, involuntary deterioration by explosion or fire ", he told AFP.

Many evacuated survivors are awaiting the conclusions of these investigations in the hope of obtaining compensation and reimbursements from their insurance companies. A silent gathering is planned for Tuesday, a year after the tragedy, near 17 rue Tivoli, to pay tribute to the victims.