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Rescue workers looked for survivors in the collapsed house in Turnhout, Belgium.
The search was stopped on Saturday.
Photo: KRISTOF VAN ACCOM / imago images / Belga
The facade torn away, false ceilings collapsed, the walls collapsed, household items destroyed everywhere: this was the sight the rescue workers saw when they reached the apartment building in the northern Belgian town of Turnhout on Friday, which had collapsed after an explosion.
Since then, the fire brigade has been working feverishly to find survivors in the rubble, between fragments of concrete and broken furniture. On Saturday morning they recovered a fourth victim from the ruins. As Mayor Paul van Miert announced on Saturday, no residents are considered missing. The search operation has been stopped, he told the Belgian news agency Belga.
The explosion in the four-story house had probably occurred early Friday morning after a gas leak. A buried woman was rescued from the rubble late in the evening and taken to a hospital. She was able to contact the rescue workers shortly after the explosion in the morning, but could not be rescued for more than half a day due to the severe damage to the building. According to the circumstances, she is doing very well, reported Mayor Paul Van Miert.
Photos from the scene of the accident in the north Belgian city of 45,000 inhabitants show that parts of the top two floors of the four-story residential building were completely destroyed by the explosion.
It tore off parts of the outer wall and parts of the ceiling completely.
There was initially no information on the exact cause of the explosion.
"We suspect a gas explosion," said Mayor Paul Van Miert.
oka / dpa
