Bordeaux: three injured in the collapse of two buildings

Three people were injured including one "seriously" after the collapse, for a still unknown cause, of two buildings in downtown Bordeaux on the night of Sunday to Monday, said firefighters and the town hall.

"The facade has fallen into the street, there is a big hole," said Lieutenant-Colonel Arnaud Mendousse, spokesperson for the departmental fire and rescue service of the Gironde. 

The firefighters were called around 12:30 am for the collapse of these two three-storey buildings, one located at 21 rue de la Rousselle, the other at 19 of the same street, in the Porte de Bourgogne sector in the old city center.

At the time of the disaster, the first was empty of occupants and under construction, the second housed nine people, according to Arnaud Mendousse. 

Life-threatening 28-year-old man "probably engaged"

The firefighters reported a "final assessment" of three injured, hospitalized at the Bordeaux University Hospital.

They are a 28-year-old man, injured "very seriously" with a vital prognosis "probably engaged", and a 48-year-old man and a 38-year-old woman evacuated "not seriously".

Six other occupants of the building, "unharmed", were evacuated with the help of an articulated lifting arm (basket).

The firefighters have implemented specialized means involving cynotechnical and rescue-clearing teams to search for possible victims.

"There are no dead people", nor missing residents, underlined the lieutenant colonel.

According to a neighbor, "around half past midnight there was a big roar and a mini earthquake at the end."

"I went down, it was impressive," added Patrick Calafato, who said the disaster occurred before a heavy rain which briefly hit the city overnight.

The whole street was blocked by piles of rubble.

Around ten nearby buildings were evacuated.

The inhabitants were relocated with relatives or by the municipality. 

The causes of the incident not yet determined

According to the deputy mayor of the district Amine Smihi, it is "much too early" to determine the causes of the disaster. "Is it the work or the weather? We do not know at the moment," added the deputy, ruling out any "dilapidated problem" on these buildings. None was affected by a peril decree. "Thunderstorms are probably part of the causes" of this type of disaster. We endured rains and storms of exceptional intensity, "noted the environmentalist mayor Pierre Hurmic to the press, while evoking possible" multiple causes. "Technical expertise was commissioned by the technical services.

The building under renovation was propped up. According to the first observations, it is the collapse of this building "which led to the collapse of the neighboring building", according to Amine Smihi describing piles of rubble "several meters high". Last Wednesday, not far from there, a dilapidated building in the city center, in the Saint-Michel district, collapsed without causing any victims.