A fourth body has been found in the rubble of a building in the Antwerp municipality of Hoboken that was destroyed by an explosion on Thursday morning. During Thursday the bodies of 3 victims were recovered. The body of the fourth victim was recovered early on Friday morning. In addition to the 4 fatalities, 5 people were injured in the explosion. Among the dead are a 10-year-old girl and her mother. 1 person is still missing. On Friday morning King Filip and the outgoing Federal Interior Minister Annelies Verlinden visited the scene.
The search continued through the night and is still ongoing. Kim Bastiaens of the Antwerp Local Police Service told VRT News that "We really want to make sure there is no one left in the building. The work to clear the rubble is proceeding with difficulty. The stability of the building is an issue and the Fire Service is having to work extremely carefully. We assume there are still people under the rubble, but we aren’t certaint. We will keep working until we have 100% certain",
Wouter Buyns of the Antwerp Local Police Service told VRT News that " It is always difficult to know exactly who was in a building. We are working under the assumption that there is possibly 1 more person still missing, as we have had any contact with that person as yet. Hopefully they will turn up."
King Filip visited the site of the explosion this morning together with Interior Minister Annelies Verlinden (Flemish Christian democrat). There they were briefed on the latest developments.
Bus services diverted
The Flemish public transport company De Lijn's says that its services in the area where the explosion took place remain disrupted. The cause of the explosion is still not clear. Although it might look as though the cause of the explosion was gas, it is still far from certain that this is the case.
The gas network management company Fluvius has been able to establish that the meters in the building are still intact. This means that the explosion did not occur at the point where gas enters the building. Fluvius is also at the scene this morning.