Two firefighters died and nearly 50 people were injured in a massive gas explosion that gutted the ground floor of a building in a central Paris shopping district, authorities said.

The accident occurred with Paris under security lockdown for a ninth consecutive Saturday of "yellow vest" protests, with large parts of the French capital blocked off by riot police.

"As firemen were looking for a gas leak in the building, a dramatic explosion took place," Interior Minister Christophe Castaner said, adding that one of the firemen had been buried under debris for several hours.

Mr Castaner said on his Twitter feed that two firefighters had died, and that ten people, including one firefighter, had serious injuries.

Another 37 people had lighter injuries, he said.

Earlier he had told reporters that two civilians had also died.

In recent years, France has suffered a string of deadly Islamist militant attacks in Paris, Nice, Marseille and elsewhere but authorities quickly ruled out foul play.

"A this stage we can say it (the gas blast) is clearly an accident," Paris prosecutor Remi Heitz told reporters.
A police source said the explosion tore apart a bakery on the rue Trevise and witnesses said the force of the blast shattered nearby storefronts and rocked buildings hundreds of metres away.

More than 200 firefighters joined the rescue operation and two helicopters landed on the nearby Place de l'Opera to evacuate victims.

Ambulances struggled to access the blast area because of police barriers set up to contain any violence by yellow vest protesters.

Source: RTE

BDST: 2029 HRS, JAN 12, 2019
SI