One held in British embassy fire investigation
With reporting by Zack Newmark. A large fire raged in the British Embassy on the Lange Voorhout in The Hague on Tuesday morning. Police are holding a 32-year-old Hague resident as a person of interest in the fire.
The fire was first reported at 6:59 a.m. by Arjan Dekker, a company director working in a neighboring building. "We were working three doors away when we went down to have a coffee and a cigarette. That's when we saw the smoke," Dekker told NL Times. He quickly called the fire department. "They arrived within three or four minutes. I took pictures at the back of the building." Firefighters initially thought that the flames were mostly on the roof, but after seeing the pictures taken by Dekker, realized that the flames were mainly coming from the back. A great deal of smoke was released during the fire. No one was present in the building, and the fire department confirmed there were no injuries. By 8:15 a.m., the fire department said they were successfully fighting the blaze. After two hours of hard work, the fire fighters managed to get the fire under control. Less than thirty minutes after the fire was called in, one person was already being questioned by police, Dekker said. The fire department and embassy workers confirmed the arrest to him before 07:30 a.m. "Within no time, we heard that there was a suspect taken into custody." Dekker said. The police are investigating the cause of the fire, also confirming the single arrest. Investigators sealed of the area to examine the scene. "They did an investigation to see if there were explosives present," Dekker said, but he is not personally concerned about safety in the area. "No, I'm not uncomfortable being down there." The extent of the damage caused by the fire is still unclear.