The explosion was fatal for the resident
One person has died in an explosion on Tuesday afternoon in a house in Beijum in Groningen. The victim was the occupant of the house on the Nijensteinheerd, and had turned on the gas tap herself.
On Tuesday afternoon around 3:45 PM, a first report came in that there was a natural gas leak. The fire brigade then sent a tanker sprayer, with a second car was arriving fifteen minutes later. Agents had already started evacuating surrounding homes, GIC.nl reports.
The fire brigade suspected that the house was full of gas and wanted to ventilate the house. Exactly when a window was smashed, the gas mixture exploded. After the explosion, a fire broke out in a house. The facade of the house has been blown away by the explosion, but according to the fire brigade, the structure of the rest of the building is still intact.
Local residents say that a woman lives in the house. Shortly before 6 pm, a spokeswoman confirmed that the resident had died. The woman appeared to have filled the house with gas herself.
About two weeks ago there was also an explosion in the Beijum district in a flat on the Wibenaheerd. Both residents of that house were slightly injured. In the days after the explosion, the police came across explosive substances, and the Explosives Ordnance Disposal Service was also called in at the time. Three suspects, including the two residents, have now been arrested.
However, it seems that this explosion has nothing to do with Tuesday’s explosion.
Image: a fire station in Belgium. Author: Alf van Beem. Public domain.
