Rescuers found the lifeless body of a victim in the rubble of two buildings that collapsed on Saturday morning in the centre of Lille in northern France, probably that of a missing doctor, Belga News Agency reports.
According to the commander of the rescue operation, Stephane Beauventre, "there is a lot of convergence for us to be on the person we were looking for since midday", a 45-year-old doctor, who had been lent a flat in the building for the weekend.
"His body was taken to the forensic institute. It will be clearly identified afterwards," he said. The victim was located shortly before 1.30am, a police source said. The prefecture confirmed the discovery of a deceased person.
Mysterious collapse
Two three-storey buildings, one of which was under construction, collapsed at around 9.15am on Saturday on Pierre-Mauroy Street, a shopping street in the city centre.
Most of the residents had been able to evacuate thanks to an alert issued by one of the residents early on Saturday morning, just a few hours before the buildings came down.
Several politicians had initially said that there were no victims, before the fire brigade announced that they were looking for the doctor whose car was parked on the spot and who had not shown up for his appointments.
Another person, slightly injured, had been evacuated from the rubble on Saturday afternoon, according to the emergency services.
The Lille Public Prosecutor's Office told AFP it had opened an investigation into "endangering the lives of others" and ordered "a judicial assessment" on the incident.
According to the Minister for Housing, Olivier Klein, who will visit Lille on Monday, the building was not "insalubrious" or run-down.
Lucky escape for many
A dozen people had been evacuated a few hours before the collapse, said the socialist mayor of Lille, Martine Aubry, who was present on Saturday morning at the scene.
It was one of the residents, who returned home at 3am, who gave the alert, after noticing "that the walls had moved."
"We couldn't open the door, we could hear rubble falling down," Thibault Lemay, a young man, told France Bleu Nord, who immediately called for help.
The municipal police and fire brigade decided to evacuate one building, the other appearing empty, believing "there was a real risk", said Mayor Aubry.
"I'm still shaking, because if this gentleman had not come home at 3am last night and contacted us...there would have been more deaths."
Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin thanked on Twitter "the student who gave the alert last night."
