Marseille: dead and missing after the collapse of a house – Panorama

• After the collapse of several buildings in the French port city of Marseille, in the south of France, relief found several dead.
• Residents report mbadive problems with buildings since 2017.
• The city administration sees the disaster in contrast with the strong storms.

In Marseille, the death toll rose to five after the collapse of several houses. Rescuers released another body of rubble early Wednesday morning, told AFP attorney Xavier Tarabeux. On Tuesday, the bodies of two men and two women had already been found. While the inhabitants were missing, the French government feared new deaths, Interior Minister Christophe Castaner said during a visit. On the whole, the authorities spoke of up to eight people who could be buried under the rubble.

At the site of the disaster near the Old Port of Marseille, 80 firefighters and 120 police officers accompanied by search dogs were deployed Tuesday. Interior Minister, Castaner, said during his visit Tuesday that he was "not optimistic" about the fact that survivors would still be found, as there was little chance that he there are voids in the rubble.

First, two buildings collapsed Monday, considered to be in trouble, including an inhabited house. When the firefighters then used an excavator, a third building partially collapsed, empty for years. The rubble of this house, in the words of Castanere, stuck the remains of the first two collapsed houses.

Meanwhile, criticism of the authorities is strong, many buildings in Marseille are in poor condition – which should have been known. The inhabitants of the Aubagne disaster road, located a few hundred meters from the Canebière tourist area, have been reporting major problems with the buildings since 2017.

The municipal administration sees heavy rains as the cause

Sophie Dorbeaux, a 25-year-old philosophy student, lived in one of the collapsed houses. She told the AFP news agency that the building had been cracked several times. In 2017, the hall had collapsed. After the repairs, the management of the property announced that the problem was solved.

For several days, the doors of several apartments have been difficult to open. "I was afraid to become a prisoner in my own apartment," said the young woman. She had already left home on Sunday. Dorbeaux reportedly complained to the police.

The city administration sees the disaster in the context of storms: "This dramatic accident could be caused by the heavy rains that have fallen on Marseille in recent days," said 79-year-old mayor Jean -Claude Gaudin. The administration has secured a hundred people in adjacent buildings. Since 2011, many renovations took place in the center of Marseille, but they stagnated again and again.