One dies as huge blast rocks French university

By Patrick Genthon

MULHOUSE, France (Reuters) – One person was killed in a
huge explosion that destroyed a research building at a French
university in the eastern city of Mulhouse on Friday, the fire
brigade said.

Rescue workers faced thick smoke when they arrived at the
ENSCMu institute of chemistry on the university campus, a
Reuters witness said.

The reason for the blast, which was heard across much of
the city close to the Swiss and German borders, was not
immediately known. The institute has some 650 students and
staff.

The UNEF student union said the complex was not occupied by
students as part of protests against a youth jobs law that have
hit universities around France.

“We hope there will not be any other victims,” fire brigade
colonel Pierre Almand said, adding the explosion had killed one
person and injured another. “We are searching the rubble with
our teams,” he said.

Some 150 people were evacuated from the building after the
explosion went off on the first floor of the building, he said.

Guy Schultz, president of the Haute-Alsace University to
which the institute is affiliated, said the explosion happened
inside a research building.

French television said at least seven people were injured,
two of them seriously. One woman suffered severe burns, it
said.

Witness Cedric Ridepi told the LCI TV station the inside
(of the building was devastated.

“There were several spots of fire… There were screams
from inside. I saw one wounded person,” he said.

The ENSCMu chemistry institute was founded in 1822 and says
it is by far the oldest chemical engineering school of its kind
in France. The school’s early focus was in textile chemistry
and dyes and now it covers all fields of modern chemistry.