Paris blast: More than 20 injured after gas explosion sparks horror blaze near French senate with two feared missing

MORE than 20 people have been injured after a gas explosion in central Paris with two feared missing. The violent blast happened in the Val-de-Grâce neighbourhood in the French capital near the Senate, a city official said. Pictures showed huge plumes of black smoke billowing into the sky above the city@aschapire/Twitter AFPSmoke is seen spewing from the building in Paris[/caption] SplashThe building on Place Alphonse-Laveran was destroyed by the explosion[/caption] Two people are thought to be still missingSplash AFPA witness says they saw a huge ball of fire 20 or 30m high[/caption] The blast took place in a building that was the base for a design school and the Catholic education system headquarters in Rue Saint-Jacques, in the fifth arrondissement. Some 29 people have been injured, four of them seriously. Emergency workers have been searching through the wreckage of the building, with at least two thought to be missing. The Paris police department said they were on the scene. Pictures showed huge plumes of black smoke billowing into the sky above the city. Footage showed a collapsed building engulfed in flames as burning debris drops into the street below. A police official said the front of the building collapsed onto the street after the huge explosion. Cops have urged the public to avoid the area. The mayor of the fifth arrondissement said the blaze was caused by a gas explosion. French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin confirmed firefighters were battling a blaze on Rue Saint-Jacques – close to the Jardin Du Luxembourg and Sorbonne University. A student at Ecole des Mines on Boulevard Saint-Michel told Le Parisien: “I was in front of the Val de Grâce, I heard a huge boom and I saw a ball of fire 20 or 30m high. “And the building collapsed with a huge noise. I smelled gas, but took several minutes to come to my senses.” Antoine Brouchot, told the BBC he was at home when he heard a “big explosion”. “I stuck my head out of the window and looked towards Cochin [hospital], then I saw a big cloud of smoke and as I got closer, there was a building that had collapsed and for the moment, there is a fire.” Some 270 firefighters were involved in putting out the flames and 70 emergency vehicles were on the scene. TwitterEmergency services on the scene of the massive gas explosion[/caption] AFPSmoke billows from a building on Place Alphonse-Laveran in Paris[/caption]