to reprimand
Millions in damage and destroyed houses after a gas explosion
After the house fires on Rügen, the police are assuming millions in damage. photo
© Lino Mirgeler/dpa
There is a loud bang in the north of the island of Rügen. According to initial findings, a gas heater explodes in a holiday home. Three houses burn. The police are assuming the damage is in the millions.
After an explosion, a fire broke out in Putgarten in the north of the island of Rügen on Friday morning and destroyed several houses. Initial police investigations revealed that a gas heater in a holiday home that was unoccupied at the time probably exploded. The debris flew several meters and damaged several other houses in the holiday home complex on the outskirts and two parked cars. “Fortunately, no one was injured,” said Mayor Iris Möbius (CDU) of the German Press Agency. A police spokesman said the total damage was at least one million euros. That is a first estimate.
The fire that followed the explosion first caught a second thatched house, which was fully engulfed in a few minutes, and then a neighboring apartment building. Its inhabitants were able to save themselves by fleeing quickly. The police spoke of five people who were able to escape in time.
During the investigation, it became known that work had only recently been carried out on the gas pipe and gas meter of the holiday home where the explosion occurred. Now it is being checked whether someone caused the explosion negligently or whether there was a technical defect.
About 70 firefighters were on duty to extinguish the flames and prevent the fire from spreading to other thatched buildings. The municipality set up a meeting place for the affected residents at the cultural barn.
The houses in Putgarten, a few meters from the northern tip of Rügen with Cape Arkona, have mostly thatched roofs, which are particularly at risk of fire. According to the police, further details are not yet known.