Marseille: French rescuers found a sixth body in the ruins of buildings

French rescuers have found a sixth body in the rubble of buildings in the southern city of Marseille that collapsed yesterday after an explosion, a police spokesman said today, according to Reuters.

Authorities earlier said they had identified eight people missing after Sunday's explosion, which destroyed two apartment buildings and partially collapsed a third.

The cause of the explosion is still unknown.

"The discovery of the bodies is gruesome, difficult and dramatic," said Housing Minister Olivier Klein, speaking to reporters in Marseille, adding that the government must support the victims, their families and those who have been evacuated from their homes.

"Rescue operations are continuing with care and determination and 40 buildings near the site have been evacuated," he added.

The collapse sparked a fire that complicated rescue efforts and continued to burn on Monday.

Five people were taken to hospital on Sunday with serious, non-life-threatening injuries.

In 2018, three other structures deemed uninhabitable collapsed about a kilometer from where the Marseille buildings were located, killing eight people.

The mayor of Marseille said the parallel could not be drawn, while the prosecutor said the buildings that collapsed on Sunday were not known to have any structural problems and that a gas explosion was being investigated as a possible explanation.