Toll up to 5 in French building collapse
MARSEILLE -- Three bodies were found Monday in the rubble following an explosion that collapsed a building in the southern French city of Marseille, bringing the confirmed death toll to five as rescuers continued searching for three more people who are unaccounted-for.
Two other bodies had previously been found overnight. The judicial authority will proceed to identify the victims, firefighters said in a statement.
"The hope to find survivors is still there," Minister for Cities and Housing Olivier Klein told reporters earlier Monday, after he met with rescuers on site. More than 100 firefighters were mobilized for the searches.
Rescuers were using a crane to move heavy blocks of concrete and rubble with great caution so as not to hurt people who could still be trapped underneath, and then continuing the investigation with their hands.
Marseille Mayor Benoit Payan tweeted Monday that "the pain and sorrow are great." He expressed his thoughts for the families of the victims and "those who are suffering."
"Rescue and search operations are continuing, without respite," he said.
An investigation has been opened for involuntary injury, at least initially sidestepping possible criminal intentions. A gas explosion was among the avenues of investigation, prosecutor Dominique Laurens said Sunday evening.
Rocket hits near U.S. troops in Syria
BEIRUT -- A rocket attack Monday targeted a base in eastern Syria where U.S. troops are based causing no injuries or damage, the U.S. military said.
The military said in a statement that one rocket struck the Mission Support Site Conoco in eastern Syria on Monday evening and another rocket was found at the attack point of origin.
No one claimed responsibility for the attack.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition war monitor, said that Iran-backed fighters based in eastern Syria might have been behind the attack.
In late March, U.S. forces retaliated with airstrikes on sites in Syria used by groups affiliated with Iran's Revolutionary Guard. They followed a suspected Iran-linked drone attack that killed a U.S. contractor and wounded six other Americans in northeast Syria. An official with an Iran-backed group in Iraq said the U.S. strikes killed seven Iranians.
On any given day there are at least 900 U.S. forces in Syria, along with an undisclosed number of contractors. U.S. special operations forces also move in and out of the country, but are usually in small teams and are not included in the official count.
French Alps avalanche death toll at 6
PARIS -- The death toll from Sunday's avalanche in the French Alps rose to six, including two mountain guides, local authorities said Monday.
The prosecutor's office in Bonneville, in the Haute-Savoie region, said the body of a sixth person was found after searches resumed on Monday morning.
The prefecture of Haute-Savoie said one person was sent to the hospital with minor injuries. Eight other people were found unharmed.
No details have been provided on the identity of the victims.
The avalanche on Sunday rolled down the Armancette glacier in Contamines-Montjoie, in the Haute-Savoie region, almost 20 miles southwest of Chamonix.
The Alps are a prime vacation spot over France's Easter long weekend. The local France-Bleu radio station put the size of the avalanche at 3,280 feet long and 328 feet wide.
National weather agency Meteo France had not issued a specific avalanche warning for Sunday, assessing the risk as "limited."
Migrant boat sinks; 2 dead, 20 missing
ROME -- At least two migrants have died and about 20 others are missing after their boat sank over the weekend in the Mediterranean Sea between Tunisia and Italy, German aid group ResQship said on Monday. Meanwhile, Italian authorities said operations were under way to rescue about 1,200 people on two migrant ships intercepted off the country's shores.
ResQship said its rescuers reached the area of the wreck on Saturday and found about 25 people in the water, who said they had been there for two hours.
"Our crew was able to recover 22 survivors and 2 deceased," the aid group tweeted, adding that survivors said about 20 people drowned. The group's ship, the Naditook the rescued migrants to the Italian island of Lampedusa.
"We are angry. This is an unspeakable tragedy that could -- and should -- have been prevented by a humanitarian approach to migration instead of barb-wiring the European borders," ResQship said.
The Italian coast guard said Monday it was completing operations to rescue 800 migrants on a ship intercepted around 120 miles southeast of the Sicilian town of Syracuse.
The coast guard also said Monday that another boat with about 400 migrants on board has been intercepted around 170 miles off the Calabrian coast. It said the migrants were being taken off the boat onto a coast guard vessel and two merchant ships.
-- Compiled by Democrat-Gazette staff from wire reports
FILE - Firefighters work after a building collapsed early Sunday, April 9, 2023 in Marseille, southern France. Authorities say two bodies were found overnight in the rubble following an explosion that collapsed a building in the southern French city of Marseille. Rescuers are still searching for at least six people who are unaccounted-for. Marseille mayor Benoit Payan tweeted Monday, April 10, 2023 that "the pain and sorrow are great." (AP Photo, File)
An excavator clears debris on the scene where a building collapsed, in Marseille, southern France, April 10, 2023.Two bodies were found overnight in the rubble following an explosion that collapsed a building in the southern French city of Marseille, as rescuers continued searching for at least six people who are unaccounted-for, authorities said Monday.. (AP Photo/Bishr El Touni)
An excavator clears debris on the scene where a building collapsed, in Marseille, southern France, April 10, 2023.Two bodies were found overnight in the rubble following an explosion that collapsed a building in the southern French city of Marseille, as rescuers continued searching for at least six people who are unaccounted-for, authorities said Monday.. (AP Photo/Bishr El Touni)
An excavator clears debris on the scene where a building collapsed, in Marseille, southern France, April 10, 2023.Two bodies were found overnight in the rubble following an explosion that collapsed a building in the southern French city of Marseille, as rescuers continued searching for at least six people who are unaccounted-for, authorities said Monday.. (AP Photo/Bishr El Touni)
People walk along fire trucks near the scene where a building collapsed, in Marseille, southern France, April 10, 2023.French authorities said the death toll rose to four people after two bodies were found Monday in the rubble following an explosion that collapsed a building in the southern French city of Marseille. (AP Photo/Bishr El Touni)
A firefighter walks near the scene where a building collapsed, in Marseille, southern France, April 10, 2023. French authorities said the death toll rose to four people after two bodies were found Monday in the rubble following an explosion that collapsed a building in the southern French city of Marseille. (AP Photo/Bishr El Touni)
A fire truck is parked in a street near the scene where a building collapsed, in Marseille, southern France, April 10, 2023. French authorities said the death toll rose to four people after two bodies were found Monday in the rubble following an explosion that collapsed a building in the southern French city of Marseille. (AP Photo/Bishr El Touni)