French rescuers have found four bodies among the debris in Marseille, where an apartment building collapsed due to an explosion at the weekend.
The rescuers reported this on the air of the French TV channel BFMTV, as "European Truth" writes.
"The fourth body was found among the rubble not far from the previous victims, which confirms the thesis that all the rooms collapsed along the same perimeter," said Commander Laurent, head of rescue operations.
On the night from Sunday to Monday, emergency services discovered two bodies of victims, and on Monday morning - the third. Several people are still missing.
Housing and communal services minister Olivier Klein, speaking to reporters in Marseille, said the discovery of four bodies was "terrible, difficult and dramatic."
He added that the government will provide support to the victims and their families, as well as assistance to evacuees. A total of 40 buildings near the site of the building collapse were evacuated.
Five people were taken to hospital on Sunday with serious but life-threatening injuries.
Earlier, authorities said they had identified eight people missing in Sunday's explosion, which destroyed an apartment building and damaged nearby ones. The cause of the explosion is still unknown.
The Minister of the Interior of France stated that there are between four and ten people under the rubble.
A four-story residential building collapsed in the night from Saturday to Sunday in the center of Marseille.