Two firefighters and a woman visiting from Spain were killed when a powerful gas explosion ripped through a building in central Paris on Saturday. The 9 a.m. blast, which was deemed accidental, also injured 47 people, 10 seriously, according to the Paris prosecutor’s office. The explosion hit in a city on edge as the latest “yellow vest” anti-government demonstrations were taking place. The protests have frequently degenerated into violence and vandalism. It took place in a part of the city home to restaurants and tourist attractions, including the Musee Grevin wax museum and the popular Rue des Martyrs. Firefighters had responded to the building, which hosts a bakery and restaurant on the ground floor, to investigate a reported gas leak when it exploded. The shock wave was felt blocks away.<doc-sep>Charred debris and broken glass covered the pavement around the apartment building housing the bakery, which resembled a blackened carcass, and people were trapped inside nearby buildings. Witnesses described the sound of the explosion as deafening. Firefighters pulled injured victims out from broken windows and evacuated residents and tourists as a fire raged and smoke billowed over Rue de Trevise in the ninth arrondissement of north-central Paris. PARIS — A powerful explosion apparently caused by a gas leak blew apart a Paris bakery Saturday and devastated the street it was on, killing three people and injuring dozens as it blasted out windows and overturned nearby cars, French authorities said. Advertisement Interior Minister Christophe Castaner paid homage to the courage of rescuers, who saved the life of one firefighter who was buried under the rubble for 2½ hours. The French Interior Ministry said two firefighters and a female Spanish tourist were killed by the blast, and about 10 of the 47 wounded were in critical condition. French authorities corrected the figure of four dead given earlier by France’s interior minister. Paris prosecutor Remy Heitz said the cause of the blast appeared to be an accidental gas leak. He said Paris firefighters were already at the scene to investigate a suspected gas leak at the bakery when the explosion happened around 9 a.m. Spanish Foreign Minister Josep Borrell tweeted, ‘‘I deeply regret the death of three people after the explosion in central Paris, including a Spanish woman.’’ He shared condolences to her relatives and ‘‘wishes for a quick recovery to the other injured Spaniard.’’ The Spanish newspaper El Pais reported the woman was a tourist staying in a hotel near the bakery, which is around the corner from the Folies-Bergere theater and not far from the Paris shopping district that includes the famed headquarters of Galeries Lafayette. Advertisement Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo extended a ‘‘message of affection and solidarity’’ to the victims. She said many residents and tourists had been evacuated from neighboring buildings and hotels and Paris authorities were helping to provide them temporary accommodations. Authorities said around 200 firefighters and police were involved in the operation. A helicopter evacuated the wounded. Silver-helmeted firefighters and red firetrucks filled the street and inspected adjoining courtyards. Pedro Goncalves, an employee at the Hotel Mercure opposite the bakery, said he saw firefighters enter the bakery in the morning but he and his co-workers ‘‘thought maybe it’s a joke, a false alarm,’’ and they went back to work. About an hour later, he said a blast rocked the surrounding streets, one so powerful that he felt a whistling in his ears. ‘‘I heard one big explosion and then a lot of pressure came at me, a lot of black smoke and glass,’’ he said. ‘‘I had just enough time to get down and cover myself and protect my head.’’ Goncalves, who was struck by shattered glass, had cuts on his head and spots of blood on his sweater and undershirt. He ran for the exit and then went back to check on the hotel’s clients, adding that some of them had head injuries and were bleeding. He said the hotel was ‘‘destroyed’’ in the blast. ‘‘Thank God I’m OK,’’ he said. Another witness told The Associated Press that she was awakened by the blast and feared it was another terrorist attack. Advertisement The explosion came as the French capital was on edge and under heavy security for yellow vest protests Saturday against economic inequality. Authorities said 32,000 protesters took to the streets around the country.<doc-sep>PARIS (Reuters) - Two French firefighters and a Spanish woman 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 on Saturday, authorities said. The accident occurred with the center of the capital under security lockdown for a ninth consecutive Saturday of “yellow vest” protests. Large parts of the city were blocked off by riot police, although the protests have reduced in scale compared with November. “As firemen were looking for a gas leak in the building, a dramatic explosion took place,” Interior Minister Christophe Castaner said, adding that one fireman had been buried under debris for several hours. Castaner said on his Twitter feed that two firefighters had died and 10 people, including one other firefighter, had serious injuries. Another 37 people had lighter injuries, he said. Spanish Foreign Minister Josep Borrell wrote on his Twitter feed that a Spanish woman had also died in the blast. French European Affairs Minister Nathalie Loiseau confirmed her death in a Twitter message. Spanish newspaper El Confidencial reported that the woman was a tourist visiting Paris with her husband, who was unharmed. BUILDINGS SHAKEN, WINDOWS SHATTERED 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 meters (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. Slideshow ( 14 images ) “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 ground floor of the building in the rue Trevise. Witnesses said the force of the blast shattered nearby storefronts and rocked buildings hundreds of meters 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”.<doc-sep>PARIS — Two firefighters died when a large explosion tore through a bakery in central Paris on Saturday, according to Paris' prosecutor. Officials earlier said four people had died, but revised down the toll without explanation. The first responders killed were trying to save the lives of their colleagues and other victims of the blast, French Interior Minister Christophe Castaner said. More than three dozen people were injured in the incident and 10 people remain in critical condition, he said. A woman is evacuated by firefighters after the explosion of a bakery on the corner of the streets Saint-Cecile and Rue de Trevise in central Paris on Jan. 12, 2019. Thomas Samson / AFP - Getty Images At least one other firefighter remains in life-threatening condition, Castaner told French broadcaster BFMTV. Spain's Foreign Minister Josep Borell tweeted that a third person, a Spanish national, was also killed in the blast. A spokesman for the Spanish Foreign Ministry said that two other Spaniards, a man and a woman, are in critical condition. All three Spaniards were in Paris as tourists. Officials said firefighters were already responding to a call of a gas leak at the scene when the explosion struck. Paris Prosecutor Rémy Heitz said at a press conference that the incident was believed to be the result of the leak, and that its source was under investigation. Emergency personnel help injured persons at the scene of an explosion at a bakery near Rue de Trevise in Paris on Jan. 12, 2019 Yoan Valat / EPA The blast, which hit the French capital at around 9 a.m. (3 a.m. ET), triggered a fire. Police tweeted asking people to stay away and allow for emergency crews to access the area. The bakery, on Rue de Trévise, is in a busy tourist area known for its theaters and is in walking distance from the flagship location of the popular French department store Galeries Lafayette. There are also many hotels and restaurants around the immediate site of the bakery. The blast left the street covered in debris, and destroying the facades of adjacent buildings. Window shutters were ripped off their hinges and windows shattered, covering the area with glass. Vehicles were crushed and at least one was flipped over by the power of the explosion. According to video and photographs from the scene, crews were busy evacuating people by ladder from upper levels of buildings along the street in the blast's aftermath. Castaner visited the scene less than two hours after the blast and said more than 200 firefighters were engaged in the rescue operation. "My first thoughts are with the victims and their families," he said in a tweet. Staff and guests at the Hotel Pax Opéra a few blocks down the street from the bakery heard the blast, according to Francesca Perna, a front desk receptionist. "Immediately police arrived to check what had happened," she told NBC News. The hotel wasn't damaged, Perna confirmed, adding, "The guests asked me what's happened but here in our hotel, there's no problem, the situation is quiet." More than 80,000 security forces had been deployed nationwide for the ninth straight weekend anticipating more anti-government protests sparked by the "yellow vest" movement. Nancy Ing reported from Paris, and Linda Givetash from London.<doc-sep>
A powerful blast caused by a gas leak at a Paris bakery Saturday killed four people and injured at least 47, sparking an all-out emergency response and evacuation of residents. The explosion and fire blasted out the windows and even overturned cars, French authorities said. The incident occurred over Rue de Trevise in the upmarket 9th arrondissement of north-central Paris, not far from the shopping district that includes the famed headquarters of Galeries Lafayette. HELICOPTER RESCUES INJURED SKIER IN FRENCH ALPS, DRAMATIC VIDEO SHOWS At least fourpeople were killed by the explosion, including two firefighters, and at least 47 people were also injured, with 10 in critical condition. The Spanish foreign minister says a Spanish woman is among those killed. Spanish Foreign Minister Josep Borrell tweeted that “I deeply regret the death of three people after the explosion in central Paris, including a Spanish woman.” He offered his condolences to her relatives and “wishes for a quick recovery to the other injured Spaniard.” It was initially reported that four people died in the incident. “Unfortunately the human toll is particularly serious,” France’s interior minister Christophe Castaner told the media. He added that “the situation is under control” and described his “shock” after seeing the damage. Around 200 firefighters and police were involved in the emergency operation. A helicopter landed in the area to evacuate the wounded people. The cause of the explosion appears to be an accidental gas leak, Paris prosecutor Remy Heitz said, but an investigation was opened to determine the exact cause of the explosion. He noted that firefighters were already at the scene to check on the gas leak at the bakery before the explosion occurred. BOXER-TURNED-'YELLOW VEST' PROTESTER WHO ALLEGEDLY HIT POLICE OFFICER HAS FUNDRAISING SITE TAKEN DOWN The explosion caused debris and broken glass to cover the pavement. Some residents also described the loud blast, saying it scared them, fearing it was a terror attack. An employee of a hotel opposite the bakery said he saw the firefighters entering the bakery about an hour before the blast. “In the middle of nothing, I heard one big explosion and then a lot of pressure came at me (and) a lot of black smoke and glass,” the witness said. “And I had just enough time to get down and cover myself and protect my head.” CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP He added that the explosion left whistling in his ears. The hotel where he works was “destroyed” in the blast, he said. The explosion occurred amid heavy police and emergency services presence in Paris due to the Yellow Vests protests, when protesters march on the capital every Saturday to show their dissatisfaction with the government. The Associated Press contributed to this report.