The death toll has risen to six in the collapse of two dilapidated apartment buildings in the southern French city of Marseille with the discoveries of two men’s bodies on Wednesday.

The fire service has been toiling day and night with cadaver dogs to sift through the pile of rubble and beams.

The two buildings, one condemned as substandard and seemingly empty, the other containing apartments, collapsed on Monday.

Firemen and a dog search the site where the two buildings collapsed on Monday, November 5th Photograph: AFP/BMPM/SM/Loic Aedo

Fire crews deliberately brought down an adjacent third building that was also in danger of collapse.

The fire service has said the site remains dangerous.

The collapse has provoked soul-searching and criticism about the parlous state of some housing in Marseille, France’s second-largest city. – AP