Explosion in Essen apartment building - people missing
At least three people are injured in an explosion and subsequent fire in an apartment building in the Steele district of Essen. The house is so damaged that the emergency services are unable to enter. It is currently unclear whether there are any residents inside.
A young woman was seriously injured and two other people were slightly injured in an explosion and fire in an apartment building in Essen. The resident jumped out of the window and was lying seriously injured in the street when the emergency services arrived on Saturday evening, according to a fire department spokesperson. She was taken to a burn center in Bochum. As the structure of the two-storey house in Westfalenstraße was destroyed, the fire department could not yet enter the building.
One person is officially missing. This is the occupant of the apartment that exploded, the fire department said. In addition, it cannot be ruled out that there are still people in the house who may be trapped under the rubble, said a fire department spokesperson. According to the police, five residents are registered in the house.
"You can't survive the violence that was at work here," said the fire department spokesman early on Sunday morning. The emergency services have so far only been able to see the inside of the house from the outside. In addition, the fire had not yet been extinguished. When the first police officers arrived at the scene on Saturday evening, both floors were completely engulfed in flames.
Explosion probably occurred on the first floor
The blast wave caused by the explosion also destroyed a wall of the directly adjacent residential building. Two residents from the neighboring building were initially treated on site by the emergency services and were taken to hospital with minor injuries. Three other people were also treated by the emergency services but were uninjured. As a precautionary measure, the fire department took care of securing accommodation for those affected via the city of Essen.
"The street resembles a field of rubble, everything is full of debris and broken glass," said the fire department spokesman. The cause of the explosion in the Steele district is still unclear. According to initial findings, the incident happened in an apartment on the first floor. From there, the fire immediately spread to the rest of the building.
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Despite the ongoing efforts to extinguish the fire and assess the damage, the international community has expressed concerns about the affected residents and the overall safety situation in Essen. The apartment building explosion in Essen's Steele district, which occurred on the first floor, has resulted in unfortunate consequences, including missing residents and damaged structures.
Source: www.ntv.de
