Six dead in airport ceiling collapse

Tons of concrete collapsed from a ceiling over a waiting area in a passenger terminal at Paris’ largest airport today, killing at least six people and injuring three others, officials said.

Rescue officials could not immediately access the area of the accident, where tons of concrete had fallen

However, search dogs indicated did not indicated large numbers of injured or dead under the wreckage, said Michel Sapin, prefect of the Seine-Saint-Denis region where Charles de Gaulle airport is located just north of Paris.

The accident occurred at Terminal 2E – opened just 11 months ago, after at least two construction delays.

When it was opened, the terminal was considered a “prestige” site in the sprawling airport, said Pierre Graff, president of the Paris airports authority.

The cause of the accident was not immediately known. However, officials did not point to any possible terrorist link.

At least six people were killed and three injured, the prefect said on France-Info radio.

He said that there was only a moderate number of people coming and going in the area at the time.

An Air France plane coming from New York and another from Johannesburg, South Africa, had just landed, he said.

The identities of the victims were not immediately known, he added.

The accident occurred at about 7am (5am Irish time), rescue officials said. It strewed concrete over an area about 50 metres by 30 metres, they added.

“There are several tons of concrete that collapsed in a structure in a waiting area that leads out to the airplanes,” Paris Fire Department Captain Laurent Vibert said.

Authorities immediately evacuated the terminal, and set into place a disaster response team.