Fire breaks out at world’s biggest produce market in Paris

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PARIS (AP) – A billowing column of dark smoke towered over Paris yesterday, from a warehouse blaze at a massive produce market that supplies the French capital and surrounding region with much of its fresh food and bills itself as the largest of its kind in the world.

Firefighters urged people to stay away from the area, in Paris’ southern suburbs, while they tackled the blaze at the warehouse in the Rungis International Market.

There were no immediate reports of injuries.

The sprawling wholesale market is a veritable town unto itself, with over 12,000 people working there and warehouses filled with fruit and vegetables, seafood, meats, dairy products and flowers from across France and around the world.

Firefighters work to put out a fire in a building at the Rungis International Market wholesale food market in Rungis, south of Paris. PHOTO: AFP