Keystone-SDA
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June 14, 2024 – 4:02 pm
(Keystone-ATS) An accident with fireworks was thought to be the cause of last night’s strong explosion in a car park in Nussbaumen, near Baden, in Aargau, resulting in two deaths – a 43-year-old Italian and a 24-year-old Swiss – and eleven injuries light.
The police have ruled out the possibility of a crime or an attack. The explosion was probably caused by a normal pyrotechnic battery, but not explosives in the true sense of the word, Daniel Wächter, spokesman for the Aargau cantonal police, said at a press conference in Nussbaumen this afternoon.
Wächter spoke of a “powerful firework”, which appears to have been handled in the underground car park where the detonation occurred at around 7pm yesterday.
Daylight revealed a picture of destruction: a pizzeria, an optician and a hairdresser were particularly affected. Traces of smoke and destroyed windows are visible on the facade, as reported by a Keystone-ATS collaborator. Even in the building opposite, traces of the explosions are evident: bent curtains, crooked shutters and shattered windows.
The work of the firefighters continues, just as the statics of the buildings are still being assessed. There is no acute danger, but there are areas at risk of collapse, the spokesman said. An estimate of the extent of the damage is not yet available, but according to the police there would be immense material damage to the building and parked vehicles.
According to Wächter, some of the approximately 100 people displaced from the tower block complex were able to return to their homes during the night and the eleven injured were discharged from hospital. For other people, a contact point has been created on site.
Yesterday evening, shortly before 7pm, several explosions occurred in the underground car park of the residential complex in the center of Nussbaumen. The ensuing fire spread to several floors. The two dead people were found in the parking lot, police told a Keystone-ATS reporter at the scene. The eleven injured all suffered only minor smoke poisoning.
The police had intervened with an important device. In addition to the ambulances, three rescue helicopters were also deployed. As several drones prevented them from flying, the police had requested that these aircraft be brought back to the ground urgently. The helicopters were not needed to save the people, but they did help the firefighters with aerial photography.
