In a piece of wall that is still upright, a declaration of love has been scratched in the marl. ’28/3. Leon + Rian ‘can be read there. A little bit downstairs is still the brown sign that provides information about the national monument that was still proudly standing here until early this Sunday morning.
Now there is virtually nothing left of the thirty meter high Wilhelminators. There are debris everywhere. The terrace tables and umbrellas are still standing above in a number of places. A little further is the concrete viewpoint, almost intact, as a kind of space capsule that has fallen back on the earth.
The owner of the tower is visibly done around, but does not want to say anything. He refers to the authorities for comment.
“We have escaped a disaster for a second time in four years,” sighs Mayor Daan Prevoo. “In the summer of 2021, the flood of the Geul caused enormous material damage, but unlike in nearby areas in Germany and Belgium (a total of 220 dead) there were no deaths here. Hopefully not now either. You shouldn’t think about what could have happened if the tower had collapsed a few hours later. It is a popular point. On a sunny day like today it attracts hundreds of people. “
Rescue
Shortly after Prevoo has said this, unrest still arises. Two rescue dogs of the rescue organization USAR to the rescue to the rescue – independently of each other – turn to the same place. Possibly there are still victims under the rubble there. To further investigate it, the Technisches Hilfswerk comes from the nearby Aachen to the scene of disaster. This disaster relief organization can be a lot faster than a similar club from the Netherlands.
Read also
About Valkenburg as a risk -losing area
The Wilhelminators was a legacy of a fierce battle between two organizations in Valkenburg, which has attracted many visitors since the mid -nineteenth century. The Tourist Organization Kurcomité Falcobergia competed with the Geuldal, the first VVV in the Netherlands, and had the tower put down in neo -gothic style. In the 1930s there was a concrete viewpoint on the tower and – on the initiative of a local pastor – an eight -meter -high luminous cross. Visitors had a beautiful view of the surrounding hills from the viewpoint, and if there are enough clear weather also in Belgium and Germany.
The terrace and the brasserie at the bottom of the tower would be open on Sunday. The tower itself would not have been accessible to the public – pending major maintenance this spring. Prevoo says that the application for this will be properly viewed after collapse. “Just like reports about the situation in the municipalgrot and the marl quarry in the mountain where the tower is on.”
Limburg souvenirs
Downstairs in the town, most tourists do not seem to notice what happened above around 10.15 am. The first people settle down on the terraces. Shops have already displayed their merchandise outside: from Limburg souvenirs to spells on tiles such as ‘although life is sour, everything tastes better in the fryer’.
When access to the cable car to the Wilhelminators, the manager hangs a sign: ‘closed due to circumstances’. For two Germans who are looking at it, he gives the translation and tells what happened that morning. “I don’t know anything else.”
About two hundred thousand people go up here a year. To enjoy the view. For mining golf. Or to slide down, tumbling or on a tire.
The KNMI reports that a seismometer found a small outlier at 05.31 on Sunday morning. This may be caused by the collapse of the Wilhelminators. Or it could have been a light earthquake that made the structure unstable. The Kunrader break is less than ten kilometers east of Valkenburg. There is increased seismological activity. Since 2000, 22 earthquakes with a force larger than 1.5 have been placed on the Richter scale and around 130 smaller ones.
Tower
Most Valkenburgers did not notice anything. The police received the first report at 6.47 am, when someone no longer saw the tower after getting up.
Along a forest path that leads from the Wilhelminators to the town of Valkenburg, a resident (he does not want his name in the newspaper) is pruning the hedge around his pasture. He heard something early in the morning: “I woke up with a dull blow and air pressure displacement. But I didn’t like it. There is sometimes a tree in the forest at night. Only when waking up we saw what had happened above. It’s a shame it’s gone. “
Mayor Prevoo calls the loss “a shock”. “The Wilhelminators was an icon and belonged to the view of Valkenburg such as the Eiffel Tower near Paris.”
The Silhouette of Valkenburg has suddenly changed with the collapse of the Wilhelminators. The other fixed element of that silhouette was already a ruin – a former height castle that was destroyed in 1672.
Around 4.20 pm it is announced that there are no victims under the rubble of the collapsed tower.
Read also
Almost 120 -year -old Wilhelminators in Valkenburg suddenly collapsed, no victims
