France building collapse: at least 2 dead and 9 injured

Lille: At least two people died and nine were injured when an apartment building in the French city of Reims collapsed Sunday after a suspected gas explosion, authorities said, leaving people trapped under debris.

"Two people died and nine were hurt," in a provisional toll after the accident, a spokesman for the city's firefighting department said.

Local authorities said the "probable" cause of the collapse of the four-storey building in the heart of the Champagne region was a gas explosion.

An AFP photographer present at the scene - citing rescue workers - said victims were still buried under the rubble of the building.