An eight-year-old child and a woman in her 80s were killed and dozens injured in an explosion that reduced half of a four-storey residential block in a Paris suburb to rubble.
*At least seven people have been killed and one other is believed to be trapped after an explosion in a four-storey building in Paris.
Rescue workers are combing the site for an estimated nine people, including two children, who are still unaccounted for, a spokesman for the French capital's firefighter service said.
Sniffer dogs are being used to search for the residential complex in Rosny-sous-Bois, an eastern suburb of the French capital.
Mayor Claude Capillon said: "There's still hope."
Gaetan de Raucourt, head of the Paris firefighting department, earlier residents could have found "pockets of air" beneath the rubble.
"People might be sheltering there. We still have hope of finding survivors," he said.
Early indications are that the blast was caused by a gas leak.
Among the victims were a 10-year-old boy and another 14-year-old child, emergency services said.
At least 11 others were injured.
----------Rescue workers are combing the site for an estimated nine people, including two children, who are still unaccounted for, a spokesman for the French capital's firefighter service said.
It was unclear how many people were in the building when the explosion rocked the street in the north-eastern suburb of Rosny-sous-Bois shortly before 7am Irish time.
*PARIS (AP) — A four-story apartment building in a northeastern Paris suburb partially collapsed after an explosion Sunday, killing a child and an elderly person, authorities said. Six more people were thought to be underneath the rubble.
Speaking on i-Tele, fire department spokesman Gabriel Plus said around 10 people were rescued from the disaster in Rosny-sous-Bois. Plus said emergency teams were working hard to locate people that may be still alive, using sniffer dogs in the search.
"We could still find living victims in the hours to come," he said.
Philippe Galli, Seine-Saint-Denis prefect, said the explosion was "most probably" the result of a gas leak.
Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve arrived at the scene and pledged his support to the families and victims. He said the 22 people from the remaining two thirds of the building have been given alternative lodging, since the entire structure is perilous.
Speaking from La Rochelle Sunday at a socialist party conference, Prime Minister Manuel Valls began his speech by sending out a "message of solidarity" to the victims
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A gas leak was likely to have been the cause of the blast, Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve and police said.
Gabriel Plus, a commander of the fire brigade, noted that there were gas works on site, although he would not draw a direct link with the disaster.
The force of the blast shook buildings as far as 100 metres from the site.
Ghislaine Poletto, 55, who lives about 50 metres away, said she "jumped into her trousers" and hurried to the site where together with neighbours "we managed to pull two children out".
One of the children was "protected by a mattress and a board above his head which saved his life," she said.
A nearby school has been requisitioned by local authorities to host families hit by the blast.
Deputy Mayor Serge Deneulin said the building dates to the 1970s and was "in perfect shape."
Television images of the building showed one side ripped off completely, exposing the interiors of the apartments inside.
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