Carole Étienne, public prosecutor of Lille, speaks this Monday more than a week after the collapse of two buildings on rue Pierre-Mauroy.
The investigation into the collapse of the two buildings on rue Pierre-Mauroy in Lille on November 12 will take “time,” Carole Étienne, the Lille public prosecutor in charge of the case, said on Sunday in an interview with The voice of the North.
“I want this investigation to be complete and explicit”, he explains, inviting anyone who thinks “they have elements that may be of interest to the investigation” to come forward to the prosecutor’s office.
The prosecutor specifies that the hearings have already begun to collect the testimonies of residents, traders or even firefighters who intervened on the spot.
Several hypotheses
Through this investigation, it is a question of understanding what happened before the collapse of the two buildings. But the prosecutor refuses for the moment to put forward any hypothesis that would be privileged.
“We ask ourselves all the questions about the state of the building. We also ask ourselves about the weakening of the soil. I cannot answer until I have all the elements”, continues Carole Étienne with The voice of the North.
“All we need are certainties”, he underlines to his colleagues, refusing “any comment” which would be “premature”.
The investigation opened on Saturday for “having endangered the lives of others” was then extended to the charge of “manslaughter” while a doctor who practiced in Calais died in the collapse of buildings.
