In the north of the island of Rügen there is a loud bang. According to initial findings, a gas heater explodes in a holiday home. Three houses are burning. The police are assuming millions of dollars in damage.
Putgarten - After an explosion, a fire broke out in Putgarten in the north of the island of Rügen on Friday morning and destroyed several houses. As initial investigations by the police revealed, a gas heater probably exploded in an uninhabited holiday home at the time. The debris flew several meters and damaged several other houses in the holiday home complex on the outskirts of the village and also two parked cars. "Fortunately, no one was injured," Mayor Iris Möbius (CDU) told the German Press Agency. The total damage was given by a police spokesman with at least one million euros. This is an initial estimate.
The fire after the explosion first engulfed a second thatched house, which also burned to its full extent in a few minutes, and then a neighboring apartment building. Its inhabitants were able to save themselves by fleeing quickly. The police spoke of five people who were able to flee in time.
During the investigation, it became known that only recently there was work on the gas pipeline and the gas meter of the cottage, where the explosion occurred. Now it will be checked whether someone caused the explosion negligently or whether there was a technical defect.
About 70 firefighters were deployed to extinguish the flames and prevent the fire from spreading to other thatched buildings. The municipality set up a meeting place for the affected residents at the culture barn.
The houses in Putgarten, a few meters from the northern tip of Rügen with Cape Arkona, have mostly reed-covered roofs, which are particularly at risk of fire. Further details are not yet known, according to police. Dpa