Bochum – At 9:44 p.m., many emergency calls were received at the police and fire brigade control center almost simultaneously: “Come quickly, a house has just exploded here! The whole building is just gone!”
When the first rescue workers arrived on Keilstraße in Bochum-Linden, they were faced with a terrible sight: not much was left of the apartment building, only a huge, smoking heap of rubble was piling up there.
The anxious question: Are there still people under the rubble?
The road is littered with rocks and debris, and there are hardly any pans left on the fallen roof.
According to the fire department, an injured person was able to escape from the ruins. A police spokesman after the accident: “A total of three people are reported in the house, we currently do not know what happened there, we are now looking for possible missing persons.”
As the night progressed, it became clear that another person was still missing in the rubble. Rescue dogs also struck in several places during the search. The search under the rubble is very difficult due to the further danger of collapse. In addition, gas was detected in various places, which is why individual neighboring houses were evacuated. According to the municipal utility, the destroyed house is not connected to the gas network.
Firefighter: “Every minute counts”
A firefighter: “We still have to search for the missing people, every minute counts! You can hardly breathe under the rubble, the victims need help as soon as possible.”
The operation will probably continue throughout the night. 120 emergency services from the fire brigade and rescue service, 20 emergency services from THW Bochum and 20 emergency services from two rescue dog squadrons are deployed.