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Firemen walk past the collapsed section of an apartment building on April 28, 2013 in Reims, eastern France, after a suspected gas explosion killed at least two people and injured nine others leaving people trapped under debris, authorities said. Image Credit: AFP

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.