German police have reported an explosion and fire at a facility housing asylum seekers. The blast took place as police were investigating reports of a fire hazard. Two officers were injured, and one dead body was found, according to DW.
German police have reported an explosion and fire at a facility housing asylum seekers. The blast took place as police were investigating reports of a fire hazard. Two officers were injured, and one dead body was found.
Police said that officers could smell gasoline as they entered the building, shortly before the explosionImage: Georg Wendt/dpa/picture allianc
Police in northern Germany on Monday reported an explosion and large fire at a building housing asylum seekers in Buchholz in der Nordheide, just south of Hamburg in Lower Saxony.
Officers had been called to the scene after tips of a possible fire hazard around midday.
Police from the larger nearby town of Harburg said in an initial statement that two police officers, accompanied by two employees at the facility, entered the building, “in which they soon perceived the smell of gasoline.”
“There was a sudden explosion in the building. The facility was set fully on fire as a result of this. Several people were injured, some of them seriously,” police said. “In the building one lifeless body has since been found, which is yet to be identified.”
Police said the injured were either tended to on site or sent to medical facilities, depending on their needs.
All available fire crews, rescue teams and police had deployed to the site, they said, asking people to avoid the area.
