After a firefighting operation in Sankt Augustin near Bonn, two firefighters who had been missing until then were discovered dead. Their bodies were found on Monday morning during salvage work, the city said on Facebook.
The fire in the motorcycle shop broke out on Sunday afternoon for reasons that are still unclear. The two are a man and a woman from the volunteer fire department, Mayor Max Leitterstorf said said on Sunday afternoon. “This tragic event shocks and stuns us all,” he said after the bodies were found. “First and foremost, our thoughts and sympathy are with the families and relatives of the two and their comrades from the Sankt Augustin volunteer fire brigade,” it said. The city will never forget the two members of the fire brigade.
North Rhine-Westphalia’s Prime Minister Hendrik Wüst (CDU) also expressed his sympathy on Twitter. “It is with deep sadness that we commemorate the courageous firefighters who lost their lives in a mission in Sankt Augustin today.” Your selfless commitment deserves the greatest respect, he continued. His condolences go to the bereaved.
The German Fire Brigade Association was also affected. “We are shaken!”, wrote association president Karl-Heinz Banse on Twitter. His thoughts are with the families of the deceased.
At times, a 50 meter high column of black smoke could be seen
More than 200 emergency services were on site to extinguish the fire in the motorcycle shop with an adjacent workshop. Eleven of them were injured, five of the injured were taken to hospitals. The injuries also had something to do with the great heat on Sunday. The cause of fire was unclear for the moment. At times, a 50 meter high column of black smoke could be seen above the store. The road was filled with smoke and the area around the site was cordoned off.
According to a dpa photographer, emergency chaplains were on site. A spokesman for the city expected late in the evening that the operation could continue into the morning. The fire department was alerted at around 11:18 a.m. The scene of the fire was in a central street with residential buildings and shops. Residents have been asked to keep windows and doors closed, the spokesman said. A message was sent for this, among other things, via the warning app “Nina”.
After the incident, the entire volunteer fire department in Sankt Augustin was decommissioned, said Mayor Leitterstorf. Firefighters from other municipalities would have taken over the extinguishing work.