Six dead in Paris suburb building explosion

Six people were killed on Aug. 31 when an explosion ripped through an apartment building outside Paris, reducing half a residential block to rubble, emergency services said.

Among the victims were a 10-year-old boy and a mother and two children aged 14-18. The bodies of a 45-year-old woman and another adult were also recovered from the remains of the four-storey building in the northeastern suburb of Rosny-sous-Bois.

Firefighters were combing the wreckage for two other missing people, Mayor Claude Capillon said.       "There's still hope," said Capillon, stressing that the search and rescue operation would continue throughout the night.

Neighbours said the blast, which happened at around 7:00 am (0500 GMT), was strong enough to shake buildings some 100 meters (yards) away. Early indications were that it was an accidental gas explosion.

"Our house moved, we were trembling from fear," said Pauline, a neighbour, adding that the explosion was so loud that "our ears were ringing."

Ghislaine Poletto, 55, who lives about 50 metres away from the collapsed building, said she "jumped into her trousers" and rushed to the site, where together with neighbours "we managed to pull two children out".

One of the children was "protected by a mattress and a board above his head, which saved his life," she said.

Firefighters said 11 people were injured in the explosion, four of them seriously. Two of the injured were children aged 10 and 13.

Gaetan de Raucourt, head of the Paris firefighting department, said there was still hope that occupants had found "pockets of air" amid the wood and dusty concrete rubble, which was piled a storey high and fanned out into the street.

"People might be sheltering there...