Shocked social media users shared on Twitter footage of the huge explosion which rocked the city of Lyon on Thursday. Local reports suggest the blast was caused by a fire which ripped through the science library of Lyon University’s Villeurbanne campus. Emergency services intervened after the fire erupted and have advised students and staff to stay away from the building after the blast left three with minor injuries.
According to the official page of Villeurbanne “a hugemassive explosion of accidental nature spewed over the roof of the Science Library around 9am (8am GMT).
Footage from the campus recorded the moment the explosion released a large fireball amid the billowing black smoke the fire was causing.
Local reported Thierry de Cabarrus said on Twitter: “Doua Campus in Lyon: It’s reportedly an accidental fire caused by some sealing works on the building’s roof, and the explosion of some gas cylinders stored on the terrace.”
Lyon University wrote on Twitter: “[Warning] Fire in progress on the Mandel building (LyonTech – LaDoua campus). Security advice: stay at least 100m away from the building. Our teams are intervening.
“The district is secure. Evacuation in progress (mostly the Science Library).”
The blast in Lyon comes less than two weeks after Paris was woken up by an explosion in a bakery in the central Rue Trevise where four people died.
The explosion was caused by a massive gas leak – any link to terrorism or foul play has been ruled out.
Paris prosecutor Remi Heitz told reporters: “A this stage we can say it (the gas blast) is clearly an accident.”
The blast tore through a French boulangerie at the corner of Saint-Cecile and Rue de Trevise in Paris’s 9th District, a short walk away from the Louvre Museum.
At the time of the blast, firemen were inside the building looking for the sauce of the leak.