Seven critical, 16 injured in Paris fire caused by explosion

The fire that broke out earlier on Wednesday in Paris as a result of an explosion is now under control, said Paris police chief Laurent Nunez.

“The fire is under control,” Nunez told reporters.

Nunez added that a provisional total of 16 people had been injured as a result of the incident, with 7 of them in a critical condition.

A Paris police official added that the facade of one building had fallen onto the street as a result of the explosion, and that many firefighters and members of the police force attended to the scene.

The cause of the blast was not immediately known.

The local deputy mayor, Edouard Civel, referred to a gas explosion in a Twitter post and witnesses told BFM TV there had been a strong smell of gas moments before the blast.

Paris police urged people to avoid the area.

French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin earlier said a fire was underway on Rue Saint-Jacques in Paris’ fifth arrondissement, close to the Jardin Du Luxembourg and Sorbonne University.

Firefighters also fought a blaze on Paris’ Left Bank that sent smoke soaring over the domed Pantheon monument and prompted evacuation of buildings in the neighborhood, police said.

Paris police spokeswoman Loubna Atta said it was too early to determine the source of the fire and could not confirm reports it was a caused by a gas explosion, The Associated Press reported.