Five Injured as Apartment Building Collapses in Marseille, France

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - A four-storey apartment building collapsed in the center of Marseille overnight.

The accident occurred shortly after midnight in the La Plaine district, with Mayor of Marseille Benoit Payan saying that a fire at the site of the building collapse was preventing rescue services from carrying out a search operation.

Later in the day, the mayor was quoted as saying that at least five people from surrounding structures were injured and hospitalized in need of relatively urgent care.

"(The fire) is extremely difficult to control... The firefighters are judging minute by minute how best to put out this fire because there are potentially people alive inside. We have to be prepared to have victims in this terrible tragedy," Payan said.

A total of eleven people have been evacuated from the accident site, according to one newspaper, which added that nine of those evacuated, including two children, are unharmed.

For now, it remains unclear how many residents were in the collapsed building.

"At the moment, we are clearing the buildings next door, taking care not to endanger the people who could be beneath the rubble," the Marseille mayor said.