The Dutch authorities indicated on Sunday, December 8, that they suspected that an act of criminal origin was at the origin of the explosion which caused the collapse of a building the day before, killing at least five people.
It wouldn't be an accident. While rescuers continued to search the rubble of a building in The Hague, which collapsed after an explosion on Saturday morning, December 7, the Dutch authorities revealed their first suspicions. “We still don’t know what caused the explosion. What is clear to us is that there are indications that this is a crime,” Attorney General Margreet Froberg told the press, without being able to reveal more about these clues, in the interest of the investigation.
A suspicious car
For the moment, a car is in the crosshairs of investigators. The Hague Police Director Karin Krukkert said the search was focused on a vehicle that was seen leaving the scene at high speed shortly after the 6:15 a.m. detonation. “Obviously we would very much like to speak to the driver of this vehicle,” she said, although the connection between the car and the building explosion is not yet clear. A call for witnesses was also launched by the police concerning this car.
So far, five bodies have been pulled from the rubble of the three-story building. Even though the chances of finding residents alive were almost zero, a rescued person was able to be extracted and rushed to hospital. In total, four injured people are hospitalized. Authorities said the intensity of the fire only allowed victims to be identified using DNA data, complicating calculations about how many people might still be missing.
Latest excavations
Two separate teams were formed for the investigation, one to identify the victims and the other to investigate the causes of the explosion, added the police officer, specifying that the investigation would take time. The city's mayor, Jan van Zanen, said elite rescue teams working at the site were currently searching the basement of the collapsed building in a last attempt to find bodies. He said this work should be completed overnight or early in the morning. For him, “here we are witnessing an unprecedented catastrophe… The suffering is incalculable”.
The three-story building included ground-floor retail and five duplexes, authorities said. Residents told local media that the building was mainly occupied by elderly people and families with children. Around 40 neighbors from buildings near the collapsed building were evacuated.
