A fourth person was found lifeless overnight under the rubble of the building shaken by an explosion on Thursday in the Antwerp district of Hoboken, Antwerp police confirmed early Friday morning.
The identity of the victim has not been released.
The search continued throughout the night and was still underway around 5 a.m. Friday. “We really want to be sure that there is no one left in the building,” explained a police spokeswoman.
Thursday evening, it was announced that the search was continuing to find two missing people. Emergency services did not know if they were actually present in the building at the time of the explosion.
The toll, which is therefore still not definitive, is currently four dead, three seriously injured and two lightly injured.
The search continues, but is made difficult by the instability of the building, the upper part of which was destroyed by the explosion.
The causes of the incident have not yet been determined. Several avenues are being examined, including an explosion due to gas. The gas distribution network manager Fluvius is present on site.
King Philippe is expected this Friday morning, at 10:00 a.m., at the scene of the explosion. There he will meet the victims and the emergency services.
