PARIS—French rescue workers searched Thursday for a person feared missing after a powerful blast brought down a building on Paris’ Left Bank, injuring more than 30 people, six of them critically.
Investigators were working to determine the cause of Wednesday’s explosion. A possible gas leak was one of the theories under investigation.
The blast near the historic Val de Grace military hospital in Paris’ 5th district crumpled the facade of a building that held a private academy of design and arts.
The Paris prosecutors’ office raised the number of people with critical injuries from four to six on Thursday. Some of those suffered severe burns, said Health Minister François Braun.
One person who had been feared missing under the rubble was located in a hospital where they were being treated, the prosecutors’ office said.
Efforts were ongoing to locate another person still feared missing, it said.
With more than 2 million people densely packed within the city limits and historic—sometimes ageing— infrastructure, Paris is no stranger to gas explosions. A January 2019 blast in the 9th district killed four people and left dozens injured.
