A kiosk exploded in Düsseldorf on Thursday night. The subsequent fire spread to the apartment building in which the kiosk was located. Three people are dead and at least 16 injured. Two are in mortal danger. All developments in the news ticker.
9:23 a.m.: Firefighters continue to operate after the nighttime fire left three people dead and numerous people injured in a residential building in Düsseldorf. The fire had been extinguished, but clean-up and securing work was still underway at the building, a spokesman for the fire department said on Thursday morning. The operation could last several hours. There was no new information about the condition of the injured.
9:03 a.m.: The cause of the fire is still unclear. A spokesman for the police in Düsseldorf said this on Thursday. Investigations are being carried out in all directions. It is unclear whether it was an accident or a technical defect. As our reporter reports, the criminal police have taken over the investigation into the fire.
Three people died and two others were critically injured in a fire in Düsseldorf. As the fire department announced, a kiosk integrated into a residential building caught fire on Thursday night for unknown reasons.
“I was woken up last night by a loud bang. And then I saw the smoke rising,” said a resident to the “Rheinische Post”. Accordingly, there was an explosion. The force of the explosion caused debris to be thrown meters through the air. Even cars parked in front of the kiosk caught fire.
When the emergency services arrived on Lichtstrasse in the Flingern district, the kiosk was already completely burned and the flames had reached the first floor of the apartment building. Several people stood on the balconies of the partly smoke-filled building. The fire department rescues them using turntable ladders.
According to the fire department, 16 people were treated by the emergency services and taken to hospital – including the two critically injured. Three people were found dead by emergency services.
The investigation into the cause of the fire and the identification of the dead is ongoing. Further security measures are currently being carried out on the building and the fire brigades will be on duty for several more hours, it was said. At times, over 100 firefighters were on duty and looked after around 70 people on site.