Student killed in Leeuwarden fire

A 22-year-old student was killed in a house fire on Emmanuel Murandstraat in Leeuwarden early on Monday morning. Firefighters rescued the victim with a crane and resuscitated him at the scene. He was rushed to the hospital, where he died of his injuries, the Leeuwarder Courant reports.

The fire broke out around 3:30 a.m. in a house that is divided into several, separate homes. Four students live in one of the homes. Three of them were home when the fire started. Two of the students were woken by smoke alarms and left the home, thinking that the third student was already outside. But when the fire brigade arrived, it turned out that the young man was still in the home. The residents of the other homes escaped unharmed, as far as is known.

It seems the fire started in the student home, as it has the most damage, fire department spokesperson Ingrid Weert said to the newspaper. Five homes are uninhabitable, due to smoke and water damage. Temporary accommodation was arranged in an adjacent building and a house on Plantsoenstraat for affected residents.

The police will start investigating the cause of the fire once the building cooled down.