Paris: A massive gas explosion devastated the top three floors and roof of a building in central Paris on Friday, police said, adding that five people suffered minor injuries.
The blast near the Jardin du Luxembourg was accidental and was traced to a fire that caused a gas stove to blow up, police said.
"We heard a really loud explosion and saw the smoke," a student at the nearby Ferrandi culinary institute said. The force of the blast blew out some of the prestigious school's windows, a witness said.
"People were scared, they thought it was a bomb," said a Ferrandi employee who gave his name only as Samir.
Explosion paris 7 pic.twitter.com/KPBFXFT9v1
— Dubai (@benitocolin) April 1, 2016
Last month, two suicide bombers blew themselves up in the departure hall, wrecking the concourse, and shortly afterwards another bomber hit the Brussels metro, leaving 35 people dead in Belgium's worst-ever terror attack.
In November 2015, seven Islamic State jihadists carried out the worst attacks ever on French soil, sowing terror at six locations in Paris in a rampage on a Friday night that left at least 129 people dead.
