Bochum.
A house in Bochum was destroyed by an explosion on Tuesday evening. The owner died under the rubble. what is known so far.
The morning after the devastating Explosion of a residential building in Bochum-Linden It is still unclear how the accident could have happened. It is now certain: The detonation at the wedge street claimed one fatality. According to the fire department, the body of the owner was recovered at 8:30 a.m.
Woman dies after explosion in Bochum-Linden – the most important things in brief:
- In Bochum-Linden is on Tuesday evening Residential building completely destroyed by an explosion been. The cause is still unclear, a gas explosion is suspected.
- The 61-year-old owner was found dead under the rubble at 8.30am. A 35-year-old came to a hospital, the third resident was not at home at the time of the accident.
- Our picture gallery shows photos from the scene of the accident.
On Tuesday evening at 9:40 p.m., the two-storey building collapsed in the middle of the densely populated residential area – presumably after a gas explosion. The cold glow of the halogen spotlights and flickering blue lights gave the shocked residents and emergency services a picture of the devastation at night. The house is in ruins. At dawn, an excavator shoveled carpets, bathroom fixtures, destroyed furniture and roof tiles onto a truck bed. A depressing, surreal scene.
According to the fire department, a family of three lived in the house. The father was not at home at the time of the accident. The 35-year-old son was able to free himself. He was taken to a hospital with injuries. The search for the missing 61-year-old owner turned out to be dramatic. Rescue dogs struck. A doctor managed to get to the woman around 3:30 a.m. “Unfortunately, only her death could be determined,” reports fire chief Simon Heußen and states: “There hasn’t been anything like this in Bochum in the last few decades.”
During the night, the Federal Agency for Technical Relief began to remove the mountain of rubble with heavy equipment. In the morning, the firefighters stood almost reverently, hands folded, in front of the collapse site. The body of the 61-year-old was recovered a little later. Trucks stood ready to haul away the rubble along Keilstrasse, which was largely closed to traffic. There was also damage to some neighboring houses and parked cars.
House collapsed in Bochum: fire brigade suspects gas leakage
How did the catastrophe come about? According to the municipal utility, the house did not have a gas connection. However, according to the fire brigade, the smell of gas was also found in the sewage system in the basements of the neighboring houses. By 5:25 a.m., the fault clearance service with 20 employees blocked the gas lines in the area of the intersection of Keilstrasse and Auf dempfad, Stadtwerke spokesman Kai Krischnak said. Twelve houses are currently not supplied with gas. The ground was excavated in four places to separate the gas supply. “The cause of the house explosion is still being determined,” said the municipal utility.
In the affected area, this statement is hardly reassuring. “A lot of gas escaped somewhere around here, that much is clear. Otherwise there wouldn’t have been such an explosion,” worries a local resident who doesn’t want to read his name in the newspaper. He asks, “Could we have narrowly escaped an even greater catastrophe?”
Residents: The explosion could still be felt hundreds of meters away
According to a witness, the detonation was said to have been so violent that the ground shook a few hundred meters away. A Linden resident who lives about 500 meters away also heard a dull bang around 9:41 p.m. on Am Sattelgut street. “The roller shutters on the ground floor wobbled like a strong gust of wind. I was on the first floor when the window panes rattled. At first I thought it was something like an illegal New Year’s firecracker. After that I ran out into the street.”
The mayor rushed to the scene of the accident that night
Mayor Thomas Eiskirch was also shocked by the extent of the damage. He rushed to the scene late in the evening to get an idea of the situation. The head of the regulatory department, Sebastian Copytz, also informed the emergency services about the extent of the damage. Due to the fact that the situation was still completely unclear at the time and the lack of information about the background, they did not want to comment on what was happening.
On Wednesday morning, the fire brigade and THW were still on site with 50 emergency services. During the night there were over 100. The operation has now ended. The police have started the investigation. The residents of six neighboring apartment buildings that were evacuated shortly after the explosion were allowed to return to their apartments in the course of the morning. They stayed with relatives and friends. A collection point did not have to be set up. It is not known when the gas connections in the houses will be released again.
Refugees from Ukraine: “We ran out immediately”
The shock is great not far from the scene of the accident in the former Helios Clinic, in which refugees from Ukraine are housed. “We heard a bang. The ground shook. I immediately ran out with the two children,” said a shocked mother on Wednesday morning. The family is from Odessa.
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