More Than 30 Injured After Paris Explosion

Thirty-seven people have been injured, four of them seriously, after a large explosion in central Paris.

Report says the blast took place in a building that housed a design school and the Catholic education system headquarters in Rue Saint-Jacques, in the fifth arrondissement of the French capital.

Emergency workers are searching through the wreckage of the building, with one person still thought to be missing.

According to witnesses, there was a strong smell of gas before the blast.

Local deputy mayor, Edouard Civel, said on social media the cause was a “gas explosion.”

However, authorities said the cause of the blast had not yet been determined.

Meanwhile, Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau said after arriving at the scene that initial checks of camera footage suggested the explosion occurred within the building, which was next to the Val de Grâce church.

The building was initially engulfed by fire, but the blaze was later brought under control, said Paris police chief, Laurent Nunez.

The area has been cordoned off and Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin has been to the scene.

Report says one of two missing people has been found in a hospital, Paris’s first deputy mayor, Emmanuel Grégoire said.

He added that rescuers are still looking for one other person.

The area where the explosion took place runs south from the Latin Quarter in Paris’s Left Bank area which is popular with tourists and known for its student population.

BBC/Christopher Ojilere