Marseille (AFP) - Hope was fading to find two missing people in the rubble of a collapsed building in France's second city Marseille on Monday, after rescue workers recovered three bodies to take the death toll to six.
Almost 48 hours after an explosion at the apartment building, where residents reported a strong smell of gas, dozens of civil defence staff using drones, heat sensors and sniffer dogs worked through the debris, where a fire still smouldered.
Housing Minister Olivier Klein said at the scene earlier Monday that four bodies had been found.But within hours the emergency services announced that rescue workers had found a fifth and then a sixth victim.
"Work continues to identify" the victims and experts have started work on determining the cause of the explosion, investigators from the prosecutor's office said.
City prosecutors have also opened a manslaughter investigation.
The fire still burning under the rubble has made it hard for the dogs to detect survivors or bodies.
"The heart of the blaze is deep underneath and hard to reach with the hoses.And we can't spray too much water to avoid creating a sort of mud," said firefighter Adrien Schaller.
Marseille's mayor Benoit Payan ordered the town hall's flags to be flown at half-mast and books of condolence will be opened for locals to pay their respects to the victims.
On Monday evening, a prayer vigil was held at a church near the site of the explosion.
"Hope, even though it is dwindling, must remain until the end," Cardinal-archbishop of Marseille, Jean-Marc Aveline, told the congregation.
'Race against the clock'
Rescue workers were clearing away most of the rubble with an excavator, he said, stopping as soon as they spotted an air pocket to continue the work by hand.
"It's a race against the clock," he said.
The blast and collapse occurred around 12:40 am on Sunday (2240 GMT Saturday).
Saveria Mosnier, who lives on a street near the site in the La Plaine neighbourhood, said she was sleeping when a "huge blast...shook the room".
"I was shocked awake as if I had been dreaming," she told AFP.
"We very quickly smelled a strong gas odour that hung around, we could still smell it this morning."
Deputy mayor Yannick Ohanessian said the explosion was felt throughout Marseille, saying its sheer force had "potentially" destabilised nearby buildings."We must be vigilant," he added.
Two neighbouring buildings were severely damaged, and one collapsed on Sunday without causing any injuries.
Almost 200 residents were evacuated from the area.
"A lot of families in the neighbourhood are afraid," said Arnaud Dupleix, the president of a parents' association at the nearby Tivoli elementary school.
In 2018, eight people were killed in Marseille when two dilapidated buildings in the working-class district of Noailles caved in.
That disaster cast a spotlight on the Mediterranean port city's housing standards, with aid groups saying 40,000 people were living in shoddy structures.
But authorities on Sunday appeared to rule out structural issues in the latest tragedy.
