Star Metro - Toll rises to three in French building collapse

More than 24 hours after a suspected explosion at the building, where residents reporting a strong smell of gas, dozens of searchers and dogs worked among the debris as a fire still smouldered underneath.

But the mayor of the Mediterranean port city said rescue workers were still optimistic they could find survivors.

"There is still hope, and as long as there is hope, we will not stop," said mayor Benoit Payan, at the scene of the disaster.

Lionel Mathieu, the commander of the city's fire department, said his team was waging a "battle against time".

"The fire has not reached all parts, so there is hope that some people are still alive," he said.

The fire at the site has made it hard for sniffer dogs to detect more victims or survivors.

On Sunday, before the discovery of the bodies, local prosecutor Dominique Laurens told reporters that eight people "were not responding to phone calls".

Five people in a neighbouring building sustained minor injuries in the blast and collapse, which occurred around 12:40 am on Sunday (2240 GMT Saturday).

The cause of the explosion is still to be determined, but investigators are looking at the possibility it was the result of a gas leak.

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 told journalists at the scene that several witnesses had reported "a suspicious smell of gas".

- Evacuation -

Two buildings next to the destroyed property were severely damaged, with one collapsing later in the day without injuring any rescuers.

Almost 200 residents were evacuated from surrounding buildings.

The city provided some emergency shelter, and the local community also sprang into action to help coordinate housing and aid for them.

"A lot of families in the neighbourhood are afraid," said Arnaud Dupleix, the president of a parents' association at the nearby Tivoli elementary school.

A ninth person living in a neighbouring building had also been feared missing, but has since been in touch with relatives, the prosecutor's office said.

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 harsh light on the city's housing standards, with aid groups saying 40,000 people were living in shoddy structures.

"There was no danger notice for this building, and it is not in a neighbourhood identified as having substandard housing," said Christophe Mirmand, prefect of the Bouches-du-Rhone region.

S.Clark--SMC