“We were just sitting downstairs when we suddenly felt a heavy vibration. It was shocking, it was like an earthquake. It was that intense,” says a local resident. “When we came outside, we saw rubble everywhere and a house on fire.”
“It is remarkable that a gas explosion occurs in an empty house,” says Thomas De Tavernier of the VLAS police zone. “Obviously, such an explosion does not just happen. So we are looking at whether there were people in the house and what their role in the explosion was.”
The building would regularly receive visits from squatters. “There was a recent theft of the pipes for the gas supply, which resulted in it being closed off with a plug,” the public prosecutor’s office said. “This caused the gas to build up and cause an explosion.”
A squatter was taken to hospital with minor injuries. The emergency services search the building to determine whether anyone was still present.
2023-10-22 19:00:00
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