Gas explosion near Paris injures 35 people

PARIS, Oct 30 (Reuters) Some 35 people were injured, including 10 seriously, in a gas explosion in a building northeast of Paris, emergency officials said today.

Police said a fire broke out after an explosion of a gas mains in the centre of the suburb of Bondy.

''For the moment we have 35 people injured, including 10 seriously, mainly people with burns,'' fire service spokesman Florent Hivert told Reuters.

Gilbert Roger, the mayor of Bondy, said that a restaurant and another building had caught fire.

''There was a very strong explosion,'' a witness told French radio. ''We saw people running. There were enormous flames, several metres high,'' he said.

Fire fighters said they were in the process of putting out the fires.

REUTERS RJ ND2052