The explosion that occurred on Saturday in a furnished hotel in the 18th arrondissement of Paris, which injured two people, one of them seriously, could be linked to a lit cigarette just after the use of aerosol cans against insects, the prosecution said on Tuesday. The explosion, which occurred on Saturday around 2:30 p.m., blew the facade of the third floor of this building located at 26 rue du Nord, in the north of the capital, not far from Montmartre.
According to the prosecution, “one person was taken to hospital in absolute urgency, another in relative urgency”. On Saturday, a first assessment reported five injuries in total, including that in absolute emergency, whose vital prognosis was however not engaged. The police station of the 18th arrondissement was in charge of the investigation, relating to “acts of involuntary injuries followed by incapacity for work greater than three months”, recalls the prosecution.
A cigarette and aerosol cans in question
“It appears from the first elements brought to our attention that a cigarette would have been lit immediately after the use of aerosol cans against the presence of insects”, indicated the prosecution, confirming information from the Parisian.
According to housing assistant Ian Brossat, contacted by AFP, this private hotel was occupied “by isolated women and men without children”.
“The City has offered an accommodation solution with a youth hostel” located in a nearby district, and “the City’s teams are mobilized to receive all the evacuees”, underlined Ian Brossat. According to the elected communist, architects are in the process of carrying out “the building diagnosis of neighboring buildings” to see if their reintegration is possible, and “the carpenters of Paris will intervene to support urgently” the furnished hotel.
Rue du Nord still partly inaccessible
On Tuesday, the eastern part of rue du Nord remained inaccessible with “filtering” provided by the municipal police, present permanently, said the town hall of the 18th century. In addition to the building in question, three adjoining buildings were evacuated, and a maternal and child protection site located just opposite remained closed “for safety”, according to the same source. On this perimeter, around fifty people were evacuated and 25 people, “representing 18 households”, were temporarily relocated, specifies the borough hall.
The facts may have echoed the explosion in rue Saint-Jacques (5th arrondissement) on June 21, when a building housing a fashion school collapsed following an explosion that caused a fire, causing three dead and dozens injured.