At least 24 people were injured in the explosion that rocked the fashion design school building in Paris’ Left Bank today.
The street-facing side of the Paris American Academy near the historic Val de Grace military hospital in the upscale 5th Arrondissement (district) has collapsed and was on fire. Flames poured from broken windows and a column of black smoke could be seen from several miles away.
Two buildings beside the academy were “seriously destabilized” by the explosion and evacuated, fire department officials said. Powerful blast blew out the facades of several nearby buildings, causing multiple casualties.
Paris American Academy is a private school that was founded in 1965 and offers teaching in fashion design, interior design, fine arts and creative writing.
Local officials said that a “gas explosion” had occurred and called on the public to avoid the area while firefighters worked to extinguish the resulting blaze.
According to the city police officials, the emergency rescue crews were working in and around the building to determine if anyone was still inside.
More than 270 firefighters were involved in extinguishing the fires and nearly 70 emergency vehicles were on the scene of the explosion.
At least four people were critically wounded, and 20 others suffered less severe injuries, local news sources reported, noting that these figures were based on “a provisional assessment” of the situation.
According to the latest reports, the fire was contained after several hours, and firefighters continued to search the rubble for survivors as of Wednesday evening.