Herbert Reus (CDU, r), Minister of the Interior of North Rhine-Westphalia, speaks to journalists at the scene. © -/Dpa
After the explosion in a high-rise building in Ratingen with numerous injured emergency services, North Rhine-Westphalia's Prime Minister Hendrik Wüst (CDU) was dismayed. "The news from #Ratingen is shocking. My thoughts are with the emergency services who courageously risked their lives and are now fighting for it," the head of government wrote on Twitter on Thursday evening.
The authorities are doing everything they can to clarify the circumstances of the incident, it said. "We have our full support for those affected."
The explosion occurred in the morning in the apartment of a 57-year-old. The public prosecutor's office in Düsseldorf is investigating an attempted homicide. Dpa