There was an explosion in a high-rise building in Ratingen-West. Several people were injured, including police officers.
Several people were injured in an explosion in an apartment in a high-rise building in Ratingen near Düsseldorf. According to preliminary findings, ten firefighters and two police officers were injured, some of them very seriously. This was reported by North Rhine-Westphalia’s Interior Minister Herbert Reul (CDU) on Thursday in the interior committee of the Düsseldorf state parliament.
After the explosion at around 11.15 a.m. on Berliner Strasse, numerous special police forces were deployed. Officials cordoned off the site over a wide area, as a dpa reporter reported on Thursday afternoon. Armed police officers would have gone into the skyscraper. Snipers also positioned themselves accordingly.
The emergency services had previously been called there by an emergency call because of a “helpless person”, said a police spokesman. Background and the cause of the explosion initially remained unclear.
As the “Bild” newspaper reports, petrol was poured out in the apartment. When the emergency services wanted to open the door, there was a serious explosion.
More information coming soon.
