A social housing estate in the western city of Bruges (West Flanders) witnessed a major explosion last night. Fortunately nobody was injured, but there was serious damage to several homes. The police and the public prosecutor's office have launched an investigation.
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Big explosion rocks sleepy Bruges: have Antwerp goings on arrived in the West Flemish capital?
Colin Clapson
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A loud explosion in the Blauwe Poort district, a social housing scheme in the borough of Sint-Pieters, roused residents from their sleep around 3am this morning.
"There was an explosion at the front door of a house," says Mayor Dirk De fauw (Christian democrat/CD&V) "It must have been a serious bang, because there is damage to the house, but also to houses in the neighbourhood."
The loud explosion brought a lot of local people onto the streets to see what was going on. "The prosecutor has appointed a fire expert and army bomb squad DOVO attended the scene to see what caused the explosion. It was possibly some kind of grenade."
Link to drug dealers?
Similar explosions regularly occur in the northern port city of Antwerp, but the phenomenon is new to the West Flanders capital. "This is indeed reminiscent of goings on up in Antwerp, but we will have to await the outcome of the investigation to establish who exactly lives in the house and what triggered this incident."
Police patrolled the area that remains quiet. "Unfortunately, drugs are everywhere, but we hope Bruges will be spared this kind of serious incident in the future. It may be drug-related. Hopefully, this is a one-off event and we can quickly find out the cause."