Voorburg man who died in Hague explosion was visiting a friend
The man from Voorburg who died in the explosions at Tarwekamp in The Hague on Saturday was 31-year-old Tim. He was visiting a friend, who survived the explosion. She is still in the hospital, but her condition is stable, Namens de Familie a support organization that speaks to the press on behalf of victims and their loved ones, said in a statement on Thursday.
For Tim’s family, life has been “completely turned upside down,” the organization said. They quickly realized that Tim might have been staying at the Tarwekamp when they heard the news about the devastating explosion. “The world fell away from under the family’s feet when they heard that Tim had died,” the aid organization said. “The sorrow for his loss is indescribable.”
Tim’s friend’s family is also devastated, the organization added. “This family is also shocked by the events at the Tarwekamp and deeply sympathizes with the grief of Tim’s family and others who lost someone that morning.”
The 63-year-old man who died lived in the building with his wife. She survived the explosion and is currently receiving treatment in a hospital. “The couple’s family is very sad about the loss of the man. The relatives cannot comprehend that their beloved family member is no longer there. There are also still concerns about the woman who is in the hospital. In the interest of her privacy, the family will not make any further statements about this,” Namens de Familie said.
The organization also released a statement from the brother of Vikel Kamperai, a 44-year-old civil engineer from Greece who also died in the explosion, leaving behind his wife and three young children. “The sudden loss of Vikel is terrible and incomprehensible for the young family,” Vikel’s brother said. The man lived happily in The Hague and “found hope for the future” in the Netherlands, his brother said.
The other three victims are all members of a Chinese family. An 8-year-old boy is the only one who survived, losing his mother, father, and 17-year-old sister. A separate crowdfunding campaign has been launched for the boy, which has already raised €67,210. This campaign is aimed at reaching more people in the Chinese community, to which the boy belongs, initiator Geoffrey Ho told NOS.
The campaign is separate from the large fundraiser for all victims, which had raised €621.215 by 13:10 a.m. on Thursday. The crowdfunding site hosting this fundraiser, doneeractie.nl, has announced that it would donate part of its fee to the victims.
“We know about that larger campaign, but we chose this route because we know that we can reach more people within the Chinese community with it,” said Ho, the chairman of Asian Heritage The Netherlands, an organization that advocates for Chinese Dutch people. “We found out that an Asian family was involved. We immediately took action. Within the Chinese community in The Hague, everyone knows each other, everyone is close.”
He expects this campaign will reach older generations of Chinese Dutch people, who may not be aware of the campaign for all victims because they don’t speak Dutch well enough. “You have a language barrier, we try to make that translation and also find an entrance to those people.”
The devastating explosion happened at around 6:15 a.m. on Saturday. It led to the partial collapse of five residences and the shops below, leaving six people dead and four others hurt.
The police have arrested four men suspected of involvement in the fatal explosion, making the first three arrests on Monday night just hours after identifying the last two victims. The fourth arrest was made on Wednesday.
On Tuesday, the police revealed on Opsporing Verzocht that they found indications that the explosion was an attack aimed at a bridal store that was located on the ground floor of one of the buildings on the Tarwekamp. Locals previously told Omroep West that the bridal store had only recently opened.
After the broadcast, the police received over 200 tips from the public with information that may help in the investigation.
