French rescue workers have dug out the body of a man but also pulled a toddler and the child’s mother alive from the rubble of a three-story apartment building that collapsed in a suspected gas explosion on southern France’s Mediterranean coast
PARIS — French rescue workers dug out the body of a man but also pulled a toddler and the child’s mother alive from the rubble of a three-story apartment building that collapsed Tuesday in a suspected gas explosion on southern France’s Mediterranean coast. Two other people are missing.
The child, thought to be 18 months old, was located by sniffer dogs and extracted by rescue workers who dug their way through the giant pile of debris, fire department Capt. Aurelia Mannaioni said.
The child was sent to a hospital for treatment of injuries, she said. The child’s mother also was rescued and was hospitalized in serious condition, she said.
The body of a man in his 30s was found in the rubble, Mannaioni said. She said the man was thought to possibly be the father of the child, but that she couldn’t immediately confirm his identity.
Searches were continuing for two other people unaccounted-for in the overnight blast in the coastal town of Sanary-sur-Mer, Mannaioni said.
The cause of the explosion wasn’t immediately clear, but regional authorities said first responders noticed a strong smell of gas on arrival at the scene.
