According to the indictment of the Paris prosecutor, made public this Thursday, October 17, the “failures” of the city and the building trustee contributed to leading to the explosion which left 4 dead in January 2019. A relief for the victims, who are still struggling with compensation, more than five years later.
On January 12, 2019, a gas explosion occurred at 6, rue de Trévise, in the 9th arrondissement of Paris, killing four people – two firefighters, a resident of the building and a Spanish tourist – and more than 200 injured. And revealing behind the drama a series of failings. This Thursday, October 17, the Paris prosecutor, Laure Beccuau, announced that she was requesting a trial against the Paris town hall and the building’s co-ownership trustee for “homicides and unintentional injuries” et “unintentional destruction by explosion or fire”.
Quite quickly at the time, the experts appointed as part of the judicial investigation had in fact pointed out the deficiencies and errors which had, according to them, led to the explosion: on the town hall side, a collapsed sidewalk in front of the building which at place to be repaired had only been filled, despite the presence just below a gas pipe; and on the trustee’s side, the failure to take care of a water leak reported for a long time and itself the cause of the collapse of the sidewalk. The investigation led to the indictment of the city of Paris.
According to the prosecutor’s indictment, the city of Paris is accused of “of having committed errors of imprudence and negligence, by not carrying out the necessary investigations to determine the cause of the subsidence of the sidewalk […] and by not carrying out the work necessary to remedy it,” as well as“a breach of an obligation of safety or prudence imposed by law or regulation, for not having carried out monitoring checks on repairs to the sidewalk in front of the porch”.
SAS Cipa, which managed the property manager, was accused of “a reckless or negligent act consisting of delaying the repair of the building’s wastewater collector, even though it had been informed on November 25, 2015 of a wastewater leak” .
“Finally a breakthrough”
“These failings contributed to creating the situation which allowed the damage to occur,” concludes Laure Beccuau. It is now up to the investigating judges to decide whether or not to hold a criminal trial.
But already, this indictment brings a little relief for the victims. “When we read “recklessness and negligence”, it really brings up a lot of emotion,” says Linda Zaourar, the president of the Vret association (Victims and survivors of the explosion on rue de Trévise), who is delighted that there is “finally a breakthrough” in this file which drags on. She now hopes to quickly obtain a trial date.
For five and a half years, she recalls, the victims of rue de Trévise, “families, bereaved, orphans” are fighting for their compensation, facing insurers who make them “to experience a horror in terms of inhumanity”. Linda Zaourar hopes that the hearing will speed things up, so that finally, “we are freed from all that”. “We rebuilt the building, she said, but not humans.”
Related News :