Body found days after Paris explosion

A body was discovered on Tuesday in the remains of a collapsed Paris building, six days after an explosion and subsequent fire, according to the city prosecutor's office.

Emergency responders had continued searching for a woman reported missing since the blast in the heart of Paris last Wednesday, though efforts have been complicated by the risk that a neighboring building could also collapse.

A source close to the investigation informed the Agence France-Presse news service, or AFP, last week that the missing person was a teacher at the Paris American Academy fashion school, located in the city's Left Bank area.

According to Le Parisien newspaper, she had been an educator at the academy for two decades and was on the third floor of the building when the explosion occurred. A source told AFP the recovered body was too severely burned to allow instant identification.

Although the cause of the blast is still under investigation, several eyewitnesses reported smelling gas in the minutes before the explosion.

Six people were left critically injured by the blast, and more than 50 people suffered lighter injuries or psychological shock, according to the prosecutor.

Peter Carman, the head of the academy, is among the most severely injured, according to Le Parisien. He was reportedly rushing to cut off the building's power supply after noticing the smell of gas.

Reports say further casualties were avoided as many of the academy's students were off premises at the time, attending a Paris Fashion Week show.

The intensity of the explosion resulted in the destruction of the 17th-century building that was a listed monument. Images captured last week depicted the aftermath of the disaster with debris strewn around the building and lingering flames. Numerous on-site witnesses relayed to AFP that they had heard a "giant explosion". Such was the impact that windows up to 400 meters away were shattered.

Following the discovery of the body, the initial investigation was broadened to consider the possibility of manslaughter charges, said the prosecutor's office.

Prosecutors are looking into whether a deliberate breach of safety rules could have led to the explosion, reported The Associated Press, or AP. Among the theories being examined is a potential gas leak.

There have been several past incidents of gas-related explosions in the French capital due to the historic and sometimes aging infrastructure of the French capital, noted AP. In January 2019, Paris was shaken by a huge explosion suspected to have been caused by a leak from an underground gas pipe.

The blast, on Rue de Trevise in the 9th district, demolished a building and claimed the lives of four individuals, including two firefighters. Paris city hall stands accused of involuntary manslaughter over the incident, while the legal debate over its precise cause continues.