Ten Rotterdam apartments evacuated after explosive thrown through window

Ten homes on the Boudewijnstraat in Rotterdam were evacuated for hours in the early Saturday morning hours after an explosive was thrown through the window of one of the houses.

According to a police spokesperson, the Explosive Ordnance Disposal Service investigation showed that the explosive cannot go off. "That is why residents are allowed to return to their homes," the spokesperson said. The residents of the apartment in which the explosive was found were not yet able to access their house again while the investigation is still ongoing.

He could not say what type of explosive exactly was used, "But it is an explosive that can do quite a lot of damage and is comparable to the power of a hand grenade. It is good that it did not go off."

Police first received the report around 3:30 a.m. Initially, it was unclear whether the object was in front of or in a house. "We now know that it was thrown in through a window," the police spokesperson said.

Officials decided to proceed with the evacuation immediately as a precaution. At first, reports stated seven homes were evacuated, but that number was later adjusted to ten. A nearby hotel received the roughly 20 people who were forced to leave their homes.