Two dead in Paris gas blast amid lockdown for yellow-vest protests

1/14/2019 - 10:31:24 AM

Two firefighters died and nearly people 50 were injured in a massive gas explosion that gutted the ground floor of a building in a central Paris shopping district on Saturday (January 12), authorities said.

Firemen work at the site of an explosion in a bakery shop in the 9th District in Paris. (Photo: Reuters)

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.

castaner said on his Twitter feed that two firefighters had died, and that 10 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.

Just hours after the blast, thousands of yellow vest protesters marched noisily but peacefully through the Grands Boulevards shopping district of northern Paris, just a few hundred metres (yards) from the scene of the explosion.

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.

An eyewitness at a hotel nearby said he saw flames envelop the ground floor of the building blown out by the blast.

"There was broken glass everywhere, storefronts were blown out and windows were shattered up to the third and fourth floors," said 38-year-old David Bangura.

He said that as he approached the scene, a woman was crying for help from the first floor of a building: "Help us, help us, we have a child".

Source: NDO

Existential danger from COVID-19 pandemic

The danger from the COVID-19 pandemic is still latent, threatening people’s health and lives in the context that the immunity provided from the COVID-19 vaccine has decreased. Many other dangerous diseases are also likely to break out when the global vaccination rate slows down, due to inequality in access to health services, vaccine hesitancy, and consequences of economic recession.

Vietnam among ASEAN countries recording EV sales surge

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is witnessing a rise in the sales of electric vehicles (EVs) in Vietnam, Malaysia and Indonesia, according to Maybank Investment Bank Research (Maybank IB Research).

International friends bid farewell to Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong

The respect paying ceremony for Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong continued on the morning of July 26 at the National Funeral Hall in Hanoi, with high-level delegations from foreign countries and international organisations paying their last respects and expressing deep condolences.

Global outpouring of grief for Vietnamese Party chief

A wave of condolences have poured in from world leaders, international organisations, rulling parties, Communist parties and partner parties following the death of Vietnamese Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong.

Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong, a revered leader in Vietnam and world: Australian Senate President

President of the Australian Senate Sue Lines has expressed her deepest sympathy over the passing of General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee Nguyen Phu Trong and affirmed that he is a revered leader both in Vietnam and across the world.

Vietnam hopes UN, ASEAN coordinate closely, effectively over Myanmar issue: Ambassador

Ambassador Dang Hoang Giang, Vietnam’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations (UN), on June 5 had a meeting with UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy on Myanmar Julie Bishop during her working visit to New York.