Netherlands building explosion kills at least 6 as authorities look for driver who sped away from scene

The death toll from an explosion and fire that destroyed an apartment block in The Netherlands climbed to six on Monday, officials said, revealing that a teenage girl was among the victims.

Rescue workers pulled a sixth body from the rubble in the early hours of Monday in The Hague, with fears they could discover more victims of the blast that took place at dawn on Saturday.

“At around 02:30 a.m., a sixth body was found and recovered from the cellar of the collapsed building,” the local fire service said.

“The search for possible victims in the basement of the collapsed building is still ongoing, with a USAR dog still being deployed,” the service later said.

Police identified four of the dead as two men aged 45 and 31, a 41-year-old woman, and a 17-year-old girl. Four other people are in hospital, two in a serious condition.

Authorities do not know how many people were in the building at the time of the blast, so it remains unclear how many bodies could still potentially be found in the debris.

The fire was so intense that identification has only been possible via DNA tests, further complicating the process.

Police are still uncertain as to what caused the explosion but the head of the public prosecutor’s office told reporters on Sunday there were unspecified indications it was a criminal act.

They are especially keen to speak to the driver of a car seen speeding away from the scene at 6:15 a.m. on Saturday.

A detailed hunt for clues as to what caused the explosion can only begin when the search through the debris for victims is complete, authorities have said.

Dutch authorities deployed a specialized urban search and rescue team to the scene, with four dogs trained to find victims. The team was previously used during the devastating earthquake in Turkey in 2023.

Soon after the explosion, a line of ambulances could be seen waiting nearby in anticipation of more victims. The spokesperson for the local hospital said that they were on standby to deal with injuries.

The mayor called it “an extremely heavy day.”

“I had expected a different Saturday,″ van Zanen told a news conference.

Prime Minister Dick Schoof said in a statement he was shocked by the images of the disaster. “My thoughts go out to the victims, all other people involved and the emergency services who are now working on the scene,” he said.

The Dutch royal family expressed similar sentiments. “Our thoughts are with those affected in The Hague after the explosion and fire this morning,″ including those “who are afraid of the fate of their loved ones,” King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima said in a statement.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.