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A huge explosion was heard in Paris that reverberated throughout the city after a fighter plane was launched.
Eyewitnesses reported that their buildings were shaken and people from several central districts, as well as nearby suburbs, reported hearing the explosion.
Police say the loud explosion was caused by a fighter plane that broke the sound barrier.
The plane had been scrambled in response to another plane crossing the city’s restricted airspace.
Footage from a French Open match between Stan Wawrinka and Dominik Koepfer shows the pair pausing after a loud and serious groundstroke is heard.
Shortly after 11am UK time, a person tweeted: “Explosion sound near François Mitterrand library, we were all afraid it was an attack.”
Did you hear the explosion? Email [email protected]
(Image: Eurosport)
Another person said his boat shook in the water after the blast.
“I felt it in Saint Cloud!” they wrote.
“In any case, I felt a huge explosion that made our barge vibrate on the Seine.”
Terrified Parisians called emergency services to report the blast.
(Image: Richard Silver / SWNS.com)
Once it became clear what the source of the blast was, police urged the public to remain calm and stop calling.
The Préfecture de Police tweeted: “A very significant noise was heard in Paris and in the Paris region.
“There is no explosion, it is a fighter plane that crossed the sound barrier.
(Image: PA)
“Don’t crowd the emergency lines!”
According to information from France Bleu Paris, the Air Force plane, a Rafale, took off from BA 113 air base in Saint-Dizier.
It had been coded to intercept a plane that had crossed into the city’s restricted airspace.
The pilot was cleared to cross the sound barrier, which passed at 11:52 a.m. over eastern Paris, Francebleu reported.
It is not known whether this aircraft crossed the border by accident or otherwise.
(Image: REUTERS)
Parisians are likely on high alert following the stabbings outside Charlie Hebdo’s former offices last week.
Two people were seriously injured in the attack, with the suspect allegedly planning to set fire to the magazine’s former offices before he was arrested.
In February 2019, more than 500 people in Oise called for help after a military aircraft broke through the sound barrier to intercept a civilian aircraft that had lost radio contact.
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