[ad_1]
French rescue workers were looking for possible victims under the wreckage of two dilapidated buildings that suddenly collapsed Monday in the center of the southern city of Marseille.
Huge piles of rubble blocked the narrow shopping street of Aubagne Street, which resembled the scene of an earthquake after the neighboring buildings collapsed around 9am (0800 GMT).
Both buildings, in the working-class neighborhood of Noailles, had had large visible in their facades, and deputy mayor Julien Ruas said one of them, number 63, had been condemned and in theory was unoccupied.
"We will have to see if there is anyone under the rubble of number 65," he said.
Some 60 rescue workers and two specialized sniffer-dog teams were searched under the rubble and broken windows.
Two passers-by were lightly injured when the four-storey buildings came down in what Djaffar Nour, who was grocery shopping down the street, said was "a matter of seconds".
Neighbor Sofia Benameur said she heard "a noise that sounded like 'badaboum, badaboum'".
"Suddenly there was loads of dust in my home and I had to run outside," she said.
Authorities evacuated several dozen residents from neighboring buildings as a precaution, police spokesman Philippe Bianchi told AFP.
"Structurally the buildings in Marseille lean against each other, so we do not want to take the risk," Ruas said.
While the cause of the collapse was unknown, north Marseille's Socialist Senator Samia Ghali was already pointing at the local authorities for the poor of the city's housing.
"Behind the idyllic postcard there are one of the many failures of housing and city-center policies," she wrote on Twitter.
The buildings collapsed just a stone throw from Marseilles bustling Old Port and waterfront.
Neighbours said the two buildings collapsed in central Marseilles in a matter of seconds
Dozens of rescue workers were called to the scene of the building collapse in Marseille
