French gas blast kills 17

A gas explosion tore through a five storey apartment building, killing 17 people and injuring another 15 in eastern France.

Rescue workers, who initially found two bodies in the wreckage of Sunday afternoon’s blast in Mulhouse, discovered 15 more bodies in the rubble today.

Most of the deaths were caused by the collapse of three floors, officials said. The victims ranged in age from 15 to 60, they said.

Dozens of rescue workers equipped with sniffer dogs and mechanical diggers poured over the wreckage in a hunt for several people who remained missing, said Captain Bertrand Weckel, a spokesman for regional emergency services.