Paris airport death toll drops

2004-05-24 08:45

Paris - Four people were killed in a structural collapse at a terminal at Paris' Charles de Gaulle airport, the commander of rescue operations said early Monday, revising the death toll downward from at least five.

Colonel Frederic Monard, flanked by French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin at the scene of Sunday's disaster, said another three people were slightly injured.

On Sunday, authorities said five and possibly six people were killed when several tons of concrete, metal bars and glass panelling came crashing down on an arrival and departure passageway at the main Paris airport's showcase Terminal 2E early on Sunday, strewing rubble over a 30-metere area.

A section of the glass-encased walkway also caved in, falling onto service vehicles parked below.

Monard explained to Raffarin that rescue workers initially thought they had found five bodies in the rubble. "The fourth and fifth were one and the same person," he said. "In the current state of things, there are four dead and three light injuries."

Rescuers worked throughout the night to clear the rubble from the site.

The new terminal was inaugurated only last June, amid delays caused by security concerns and trade union accusations that management was rushing the completion deadlines for the building.

An investigation has been ordered that is likely to concentrate on faults in the terminal design or possible shortcuts taken in the construction.

- AFP