On the day of September 28, 1971, in Marseille, the Place Jules-Verne district was lively. We meet people in a hurry entering or leaving the town hall. We see slow processions of motorists going in circles looking for a space in the central parking lot. In the evening, it’s much quieter.
The only entertainment: two restaurants, Les Cigales and la Crêperie, located on either side of the entrance to 4, rue du Lacydon. An anonymous building built in the aftermath of the war with funds from war damages, where victims of the destroyed old neighborhoods were relocated.
“A bolt from the blue”
But at 9:10 p.m.: several customers noticed a slight smell of gas. Not so light, probably, since the tenants on the 1st floor also note this particular smell. Suddenly, “a violent, lightning explosion, a clap of thunder” occurs, razing the restaurant, and its neighbor (closed) La Crêperie in the process, and injuring 34 people, including three in serious condition.
“I don’t know what happened. I was making coffee and the ceiling fell on my head“, summarized, still shocked, Pierre Bagatta, owner of the restaurant Les Cigales, on September 28 to journalists from Provençal. The rest, the restaurateur has no memory… The ceiling of the restaurant partly collapses, the paintings come down and the floor heaves.
Gaston Defferre at the bedside of the victims
On the side of “La Crêperie”, the metal curtain was found about twenty meters on the other side of the street, testifies the owner of the establishment at Provençalthere again. Fortunately, it was closed for annual leave. The next morning, Gaston Defferre, then deputy mayor, went to La Timone to go to the bedside of the five injured, out of the initially 34, in the end.
