At Least 12 Die in Roadside Restaurant Blast in Belgium
A gas canister exploded in a roadside restaurant near Belgium’s border with Germany on Sunday, causing the roof to collapse and killing at least 12 people, police said.
A dozen others were injured in the explosion in the town of Eynatten, said a police official who demanded anonymity. The explosion also caused a fire in an adjacent gas station, which badly burned three other people.
As many as 20 people may have died when the gas canister exploded in the kitchen of the restaurant at 5:30 p.m., the official said.
Police were searching through the rubble for more bodies. “By now it is useless to look for survivors, only victims,” he said, four hours after the accident.
A rescue helicopter was evacuating the injured to a burn center in Aachen, Germany.
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