One person lost his life in the explosion of a building in Hoboken (Antwerp) on Thursday morning, local police said. Three people were seriously injured and two suffered minor injuries.
A strong explosion blew out the upper part of a building located in the Antwerp district of Hoboken on Thursday morning, Antwerp firefighters said. One person died. Three people were seriously injured and two suffered minor injuries.
Police would not release the cause of the explosion at this time.
This afternoon, Bart De Wever, president of the N-VA, informant and mayor of Antwerp, visited the site.
This afternoon, the removal work began. The security perimeter has been widened because of the expected dust nuisance. The press and passers-by were sent away.
A mine clearance team went to the site. According to Belga, rescue operations are still at a standstill.
Other apartments were also evacuated for security reasons. They will have to spend the night elsewhere, the city offers them night accommodation.
A missing mother and child
The medical response plan was triggered to coordinate medical assistance. Firefighters are also deployed en masse to secure the premises but the work is difficult due to the instability of the building. Emergency services are asking people around the building to remain completely silent so they can hear potential survivors in the rubble. “We assume there are still people inside“, says Ninke Neirynck, spokesperson for the Antwerp fire brigade. “Our first objective now is to locate and release these people.” According to HLN, four people are still not found, including a mother and her child.
Specialized equipment was brought to the scene to safely remove the roof from the building. Rescuers are currently using a drone to take aerial images of the destroyed building.
“The building is very badly damaged“, declared the spokesperson for the Antwerp fire brigade. “It is a three-story building, the last two of which were largely destroyed. The whole structure is unstable.”
According to initial findings, the surrounding buildings were not too damaged.
explosion antwerp firefighter
