Deadly Explosion in Antwerp Apartment Building Kills 4, Including Child

Around 6:15 a.m. on Thursday morning, an explosion of rare violence shook the Sint-Bernardsesteenweg neighborhood in Antwerp. A four-story building, located in a densely populated area, was virtually razed by the explosion. The debris was projected dozens of meters around, testifying to the force of the explosion.

The human toll is heavy. Four people were killed in the explosion, including a ten-year-old girl, Houda. Two other victims have been identified as Mohamed B., 44, and Mina Marc, Houda’s mother. Five other people were injured, two of them seriously.

The emergency services were quickly mobilized on site. The search operations were particularly difficult due to the risk of the building collapsing, weakened by the explosion. The firefighters had to proceed with the demolition "stone by stone" of the building to find any possible victims.

The cause of the explosion has not yet been determined. The preferred track of the investigators is that of a gas leak. However, checks carried out by Fluvius revealed that the building’s gas meters were intact, leaving this hypothesis in doubt. Other tracks, such as the explosion of a clandestine drug laboratory, are not excluded.

The mayor of Antwerp, Bart De Wever, and the governor of the province, Cathy Berx, went to the scene to show their support. King Philippe also visited the scene of the tragedy on Friday morning.