At least 17 people have been injured in a huge gas explosion, which rocked a residential building in central Paris, French media cited firefighters as saying. Local residents have reportedly been evacuated.

At least 17 people have been injured in a huge gas explosion, which rocked a residential building in central Paris, French media cited firefighters as saying. Local residents have reportedly been evacuated.

A firefighter, blown by the blast, was seriously injured, the firefighters told Liberation. Sixteen other people, including 10 firefighters, were slightly injured, he added.

Firefighters and ambulances have been deployed to the scene.

"We heard a loud explosion and saw smoke," two students from Ferrandi college told AFP.

"People were scared, they believed that it was a bomb," a college employee added.