One dead and several injured in a fall from the upper floor

A man died in Odenkirchen on Thursday evening when he fell from the third floor of an apartment building. The man succumbed to his serious injuries at the scene of the accident, attempts by the rescue workers to revive them were unsuccessful, as fire chief Dirk Schattka said. Three other people, two men and a woman, were seriously injured in the fall. The four people fell about ten meters from an arcade in the building that led to the apartment doors. As Schattka confirmed to the editors, the railing or the parapet broke. One injured person was transported by helicopter to the Aachen University Hospital, two other injured people were taken to local hospitals.

The police, rescue workers and fire brigade were deployed in large numbers on the street “Am Kammerhof”. Emergency chaplains were also on site and looked after relatives and witnesses to the incident. There were road closures.

The emergency call reached the emergency services around 6:50 p.m. When the rescuers arrived on site, some of those who had fallen were still able to speak – but one man (born in 1991) was no longer. “One patient had to be resuscitated immediately, but unfortunately he died,” said fire chief Schattka on site. A funeral director took away the body around 9 p.m. The injured are men born in 1991 and 1974 and a woman born in 1981. Neighbors heard a patient being treated in the ambulance screaming in pain.

How the accident happened was initially unclear in the evening. However, parts of the balustrade of the arcade were broken and had to be secured. According to information from our editorial team, the building regulations office was on site. Parts of the building may no longer be used.

The fire brigade launched a drone over the house in the evening and took aerial pictures of the crime scene. Detectives were on duty and began investigating what happened in the evening. The scene of the accident was confiscated by the police as a crime scene. The investigators secured evidence and interviewed witnesses. A police spokesman initially did not provide any further information on the course of events in the evening.

The apartment building is not unknown to local residents. There are regular police and emergency services there due to disputes and emergencies, says a resident who stands with neighbors on the street and shakes his head. The building used to be a dormitory for single mothers, and a day-care center was also located on the ground floor. “Everything was fine there,” says a neighbor. However, the apartments were then sold and are now occupied by other tenants. “It’s bad, there are often arguments,” says the neighbor.

Meanwhile, an elderly woman waits by one of the ambulances, hands clasped and trembling. He just wanted to mediate, she tells other neighbors. The investigators did not say whether there was a dispute among the residents of the house that evening.

The operation lasted until late in the evening. The fire brigade secured the broken parapet of the building, which may not have been restored for a long time and has visible damage, initially provisionally. A tenant was not allowed to return to his apartment for safety reasons. According to the fire department, he stayed with friends. All other apartments can still be used, it was said in the evening.

Here is the photo gallery: Large-scale operation after a fall from the third floor – one dead