French sailors killed in Channel explosion

Two people were killed and three were missing after a French navy ship carrying explosives blew up and sank off the Channel port of Cherbourg yesterday.

About a dozen other people were injured in the blast on board the 450- tonne support ship La Fidele which had been carrying grenades for destruction at sea. The injured were flown by helicopter to a military hospital after a rescue by naval patrol boats and lifeboats. The explosion was heard up to 19 miles away. Reuters- Paris