Man hurt in Rotterdam explosion discharged from hospital; Locals scared to return home

The man who got severely hurt in the explosion at Schammenkamp last week Monday is out of the hospital and is staying with his family, a spokesperson for his landlord, Van Hennik, told Rijnmond. He is doing reasonably well under the circumstances. At a meeting for local residents on Monday, it became clear that many residents of the apartment building are too afraid to return to their homes.

The injured man is known as Amigo in the neighborhood, according to Rijnmond. He was sitting on his couch when the massive explosion in the business premises under his apartment blew the floor out of his house. He fell into the sea of flames with the couch and all. He managed to crawl out of the rubble and fire, and bystanders rushed to help him. He was treated in the hospital for burns and cuts and an injured foot.

The seven homes directly above the business premises where the explosion happened were all declared uninhabitable. According to landlord Van Hennik, six of the seven tenants were home at the time of the blast. Except for Amigo, all other residents escaped safely via the stairwell or via the roof and gallery of an apartment above the Plus supermarket.

On Monday, the municipality of Rotterdam held an information evening for the residents of the Schammenkamp apartment building. About 100 people attended the meeting, where municipal employees, deputy mayor Robert Simons, emergency services, and victim support provided information.

It quickly became apparent that many locals whose homes had been released were afraid to return. “Some people want to return, but that is not possible. They have children, and they no longer dare to sleep in that house. That also has an effect on the parents. People want to leave here,” one local said at the meeting, according to Rijnmond.

The residents of the seven destroyed apartments are waiting for clarity about what will happen to them. They are currently staying in hotels. The municipality said it was urgently looking for a home where they could stay more permanently and asked them for patience.

The municipality said that the disaster site would be released soon. Then, it can work on reconnecting the homes to gas, water, and electricity and clearing up the rubble. It is considering how to let residents look for personal items - either before the clearance operation starts or by taking the rubble to another location where locals can pick through it safely.

Three people were killed in the explosion at Schammenkamp. They were all in the business premises below the homes when the explosion happened. The tenant of the exploded warehouse, Jalal O., was arrested on Saturday on suspicion of manufacturing drugs and causing the explosion. He will be arraigned on Tuesday. According to Rijnmond, he was one of the people who climbed over the police cordon and helped recover the body of one of the victims last week Wednesday.

At the meeting on Monday, the municipality said that apart from one report of a bad smell a week before the explosion, the authorities received no reports of anythign suspicious happening at Schammenkamp. Several residents were surprised about that. “A friend of mine lived above the building. Her house burned down. She is not surprised by the speculation that there was a drug lab. She already had suspicions and reported it to the police many times.”

Locals were also concerned about the presence of a fireworks storage in the middle of the residential area. During the fire in the aftermath of the explosion, one of the emergency services’ first priorities was to take away some 5,000 kilograms of fireworks stored there. “If that warehouse had also exploded, many people would no longer be here. There are children walking past there.” The municipality stressed that the fireworks storage had been there for 20 years and that the owner met all permit requirements.