The emergency services were alerted just before 2 p.m. The report was that an explosion had happened in a house in Cijnsdreef, a district in Ruddervoorde. A neighbor who heard a loud bang raised the alarm. For safety reasons, the police quickly set up a perimeter to keep everyone at a distance. The devastation is enormous.
A single man aged 69 lives in the house, according to Mayor Jan De Keyser, who arrived on the scene. It is not clear whether the resident was present. The emergency services have not yet been able to reach him. “We hope that he simply does not answer his mobile phone and was not present in the house,” says De Keyser. Police dogs are now arriving on the scene to search under the rubble for possible victims. A thermal camera will also be used for this, but an initial The search has not yielded anything. There is said to be no gas connection in the house, but it is not clear what caused the explosion.