Three people have been killed and others injured after an explosion and fire destroyed an apartment block in the Dutch city of The Hague, authorities said.
The cause of the incident in Mariahoeve is unclear, with mayor Jan van Zanen saying investigators are looking into “all possibilities”.
Police said they are looking for a car seen leaving the scene.
Emergency authorities said four people were rescued from the rubble and taken to hospital. The mayor said rescuers were no longer looking for survivors but for bodies, but could not specify how many people might still be unaccounted for.
Residents of the north-eastern area of Mariahoeve heard a huge bang and screams before dawn. One woman told local media that she thought an earthquake had happened.
Dutch authorities deployed a specialised 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 stand-by to deal with injuries.
The mayor called it “an extremely heavy day”.
“I had expected a different Saturday,” Mr 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.
King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima said in a statement: “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.”
