UPDATE/VIDEOThe number of victims of the gas explosion in Turnhout has risen to four. It concerns the person who was missing earlier last night, Mayor Paul van Miert reported this morning. A woman was able to be pulled out of the rubble alive earlier.
Foreign editors/HLN
Latest update:
08:52
The rescue operation in Turnhout has been going on for hours. On Friday around 8.15 am, a four-storey flat on Boeren Krijglaan in Turnhout, a Belgian town just across the border with the Netherlands, collapsed.
One body was previously recovered and after an hours-long rescue effort, a woman was rescued alive from the rubble. She has been taken to hospital. Only after midnight were two other bodies found under the rubble.
Quest
Emergency services through the night. That is why, according to the newspaper Het Laatste Nieuws, a large light installation has been installed. Rescuers must exercise caution in the search. There are fears that the roof could come down as walls collapsed from the explosion.
“The stability of the building is not good. But it is important that we move forward as quickly as possible to find any victims,” Mayor Paul Van Miert previously told broadcaster VRT. “We have to take it piece by piece, piece by piece.”
He asked residents to spend as little time as possible with fireworks during the festivities around New Year’s Eve. “Not only for the serenity after this disaster, but also not to overload the emergency services who are very busy here.”
Completely destroyed
Video footage shows how much of the facade and ceilings were completely blown away. Half floors have been thrown down by the blast and several apartments have been completely destroyed. Ten people lived in the building.
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Medical intervention plan
The debris of the stricken building is hundreds of meters away. In addition, some cars were damaged. “One apartment is completely gone, you can just see through it. There is therefore a fear of casualties in the neighborhood,” according to HLNjournalist Jef van Nooten. The medical intervention plan is in effect in Turnhout and medical and other emergency services have been called in from various surrounding areas.
Police are currently investigating the blast site with sniffer dogs. There is also a crane on site to clear the debris. Many local residents are shocked by the explosion. “I’m still trembling with fear”, Stephanie van Gorp tells HLN. She lives near the site of the blast. “We even have glass in our garden.”
Neighborhood resident Adil (28) still cannot grasp what happened on Friday morning in the apartment building right next to him. “Suddenly we heard a huge bang. We looked out the window but only saw rocks and metal flying around. It seemed like we were in a war,” he says.
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