The fire started around a quarter past one this afternoon, in the Veurnestraat in De Panne. Local residents had noticed smoke development at a ground-floor studio of Woonmaatschappij IJzer & Zee.
When they entered the house, fire crews encountered heavy smoke and fire. When extinguishing the fire, they found the man in his eighties, who had already died. The house was destroyed by the fire.
The West Flanders public prosecutor’s office is conducting an investigation into the circumstances of the fire and appointed a fire expert.