An explosion has rocked Antwerp, Belgium, leaving a building partially collapsed, several homes damaged, and “at least” five people injured.
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Apparently there was a blast near my old apartment in Antwerp. A friend just showed me these pics of a collapsed building. Scary stuff pic.twitter.com/t3DZRSxj2B
— Adam Lynch 🌎 (@lynchy010) January 15, 2018
Breaking: Multiple people injured after massive gas explosion in Belgian city of Antwerp pic.twitter.com/Zeh7LVEQSR
— PM Breaking News (@PMBreakingNews) January 15, 2018
The explosion happened in the Paardenmarkt area in the city, according to Nieuwsblad. The building most heavily damaged by the explosion has a pizzeria at ground level and apartments above it. Rescuers are still digging through the rubble, so the injury and fatality count is likely to change. Three people are known to be missing at this time, according to Antwerp Police.
Antwerp Police have tweeted that the incident is not thought to be terror-related at this time. They tweeted the alert just before 4:00 p.m. local time.
Explosie #Paardenmarkt = GEEN TERRO
— Politie Antwerpen (@PZAntwerpen) January 15, 2018
The explosion is suspected to have been caused by a gas leak at this time, according to the Mirror. An eyewitness told Nieuwsblad that the explosion was “like a huge bomb.”
“All windows of the building flew apart in shards … The glass flew meters away,” they said. “I am shaking on my legs. The front door was three meters away, just blown away by the shock … Our apartment is a mess.”
https://twitter.com/r0eland/status/953022765006761985
This is a developing story.
Editor’s note: The translations of the Dutch news sources used in this article were provided by Google Translate services.