Image: VOLKER Weihbold
Numerous residents of an apartment building in Kremsmünster were awakened late Thursday evening: because smoke was detected in a switch box in an apartment, the entire building had to be evacuated. All residents fled into the open, only in one apartment the police could not reach anyone.
When the apartment door could be opened with a second key, the officers encountered massive smoke that spread throughout the stairwell. The fire brigade finally searched the apartment and found a 65-year-old lying lifeless in the kitchen. Any help came too late for him – the emergency doctor pronounced him dead on the spot.
“The fire should have gone out in the kitchen area,” says Andreas Gegenleitner, commander of the Kremsmünster fire department. However, there is still no exact cause of the fire, which has been determined since 8 a.m. by a fire expert from the State Criminal Police Office.
Four firefighters, ten residents and two police officers suffered smoke inhalation from the smoke. They had to be taken to nearby hospitals.
Source: Nachrichten
