Four people have died in a fire at a hospital near the city of Hamburg in northern Germany.
The fire started around 10:45 PM local time (9:45 PM GMT) on Thursday on the third floor of the Helios Clinic in Uelzen.
About 20 people got hurt, and the police think more people might die because some injuries are really bad.
Officials are trying to find out why the fire started.
140 firefighters and people who rescue others, including some from nearby areas, worked hard to control the fire. According to reports, some people were saved from the clinic using ladders.
The police said that people inside the building called for help.
Uelzen is about 70 kilometers (43 miles) to the southeast of Hamburg.
All four people who died were patients.
However, the police mentioned that more people might have died. “There are more people who are very badly hurt and might die,” said spokesperson Michel Koenemann.
The fire is believed to have caused about €1m (£862,000) in damage.
The Helios Clinic is a hospital where doctors learn from the Hannover Medical School. The clinic’s website says it has around 750 workers and helps about 42,000 patients each year.
Tag: Hamburg
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Hospital fire near Hamburg claims lives of four patients
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Hamburg scaffolding collapses killing three
At least three workers have died after the standing structure fell down at a construction site in the German city of Hamburg, as confirmed by the firefighting officials.
Many more people were hurt, and it is believed that there are still people trapped under the scaffolding.
The incident occurred on Monday morning at a big construction site called Uberseequartier in the HafenCity district.
The workers were probably constructing an elevator tunnel at that moment.
The Hamburg fire department first said that five men died, but now they have changed that number to be lower.
According to news in Germany, many emergency workers are at the location to search for people trapped under the rubble. The area has been cleared of people.
Many people are working at a construction site. The site is being developed and will have offices, houses, hotels, and shops. -
Fatal shooting at a Jehovah’s Witness building in Hamburg
In Hamburg, a city in northern Germany, a shooting at a Jehovah’s Witness meeting place has resulted in a number of fatalities.
Authorities claim that the shooter, who is believed to be deceased, operated alone. If the attacker is one of the six or seven fatalities listed by German media, it remains uncertain.
“There is no reliable information on the motive at this time,” according to authorities.
A number of people were also injured in the shooting on Deelböge street, Gross Borstel district, late on Thursday.
Police say they found a dead person at the scene who they believe may have been a perpetrator and investigations are continuing.
They were called at about 21:15 local time (20:15 GMT) on Thursday to reports that shots had been fired in the building, police spokesman Holger Vehren said.
Officers who went in found people who “may have been seriously injured by firearms, some of them fatally”, he said.
“The officers also heard a shot from the upper part of the building and went upstairs, where they also found a person. So far we have no indications that any perpetrators fled.”
He said police had not yet identified the victims and work at the crime scene continued.
“All we know is that several people have died here, several people have been injured, they have been taken to hospitals,” Mr Vehren said.
The reasons behind the shooting were “still completely unclear”.
On Friday morning, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz described the shooting as a “brutal act of violence”, saying his thoughts were with the victims and their relatives.
In a statement, the Jehovah’s Witness community in Germany said it was “deeply saddened by the horrific attack on its members at the Kingdom Hall in Hamburg after a religious service”.
Hamburg’s Mayor Peter Tschentscher has spoken of his shock and offered his condolences to the families of the victims.
Forensic experts have been working at the scene through the night. They can still be seen in their white suits inside the brightly lit interior of the meeting house.
It is thought people had gathered, possibly for a Bible study, when the shooting began at around 21:00 local time.
A neighbour said she had heard several bursts of gunfire and, later, had seen police officers carrying people out of the building.
An alert was sent on the federal warning app, NINAwarn, at around 21:00 (20:00 GMT) telling locals that “one or more unknown perpetrators shot at people in a church”.
Residents nearby were told not to leave their homes amid the ongoing police operation.
Footage showed police escorting people out of the meeting hall, some to ambulances.
Hamburg’s Interior Minister, Andy Grote, said on Twitter that police special forces and a large number of officers had been deployed to the scene.
Police have appealed to the public not to share assumptions or to spread rumours.
Jehovah’s Witnesses are members of a Christian-based religious movement.
The denomination was founded in the USA towards the end of the 19th Century, under the leadership of Charles Taze Russell. The headquarters of the movement is in New York.
Source: BBC