16 injured in explosion in Eschweiler (D)

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A huge explosion in a residential and commercial building injured 16 people on Thursday evening in the town of Eschweiler, northeast of Aachen. Two of them, including a baby a few weeks old, are in mortal danger, a police spokesman in Aachen reported on Friday morning. Four other people were seriously injured, ten were classified as slightly injured.

Some of the injured had “massive burns,” said a spokesman for the fire department. The police and fire department assumed a gas explosion in the multi-storey house. The force of the blast shattered all windows within a radius of 50 meters. Shops opposite the house from which the blast wave originated also lay in ruins.

200 emergency services were on the scene

The explosion also started a blaze that engulfed a large contingent of firefighters from the region for hours. The police and fire department received support from the Eschweiler Technical Relief Agency. The fire was extinguished at 2 a.m. However, cinders were later discovered. About 200 troops were deployed.

The explosion was reported around 9:15 p.m. Thursday night. Adjacent houses were also severely damaged by their violence. Whether the accident house itself or neighboring houses are in danger of collapsing must now be checked. Until then, residents are not allowed to return to their homes. The number of evacuees was still unclear at night.

“There was still no structural engineer in the houses,” says a spokesman for the fire service. The Eschweiler fire brigade had raised the alarm and requested fire brigades from neighboring towns for reinforcements. “It was a very large operation,” says a police spokesperson.

Authorities assumed it was an accident. So far there are no indications of a crime, according to the police. The accident site was cordoned off over a large area. Fire experts had no more entered the stricken home than a structural engineer, it was said overnight. The “Aachener Zeitung” had previously reported on the explosion.

Eschweiler is located between Aachen, Cologne and the North Eifel. The city has almost 56,000 inhabitants. The last major disaster there was not so long ago: in July 2021, the flood disaster hit the city. The hospital in Eschweiler alone, which had to be evacuated during a dramatic rescue operation, suffered damage of 120 million euros. With 1,400 employees, the hospital is the city’s largest employer. (SDA)

Source: Blick