Firefighters rescue people from a collapsed building in Paris

Firefighters work on the site of a collapsed building in the heart of Paris and rescue people in shock.

An explosion potentially caused by a gas leak ripped through a building in central Paris on Wednesday, injuring four people seriously and causing a wave of destruction in the historic district.An explosion potentially caused by a gas leak ripped through a building in central Paris on Wednesday, injuring four people seriously and causing a wave of destruction in a historic district of the capital, officials said.Rescue workers were in the evening still searching the rubble for two missing individuals who had not been accounted for, according to prosecutors.

Police said 29 people were injured, with four of them in a serious condition.The blast was followed by a major fire which caused the building, housing a fashion school, to collapse. Some 70 fire trucks and 270 firefighters battled the blaze. Nine doctors were also at the scene.The blast was caused by a "gas explosion", the district's mayor said on Twitter, although this was not confirmed by other officials.