Railway fire during NATO Summit was not State-sponsored arson, Dutch police say

Police in the Netherlands said there is no indication that another nation was responsible for the railway fire that disrupted train traffic in the Netherlands on the first day of the NATO Summit in The Hague. However, authorities still believe the fire was intentionally set, and it’s most likely that the fire was started to disrupt train service on that specific date, police said on Thursday.

An investigation has revealed that accelerants were used in the blaze, the police said in an update. Detectives and analysts ruled out the possibility of a technical malfunction or an accident as the cause. There are also no indications that the fire started due to vandals attempting to steal copper used in the infrastructure.

The railway fire took place at Oeverlandenweg in Amsterdam Nieuw-West on June 24, damaging several stretches of power cables. As a result, train traffic between Schiphol Airport and the cities of Amsterdam and Utrecht was suspended that day.

The fire broke out between 2:51 and 3:21 a.m., investigators said. Police distributed footage of three bicyclists travelling north from the overpass via Adam Smithplein at around 3:00 a.m.

They are currently considered persons of interest in the case, with police saying they may be important witnesses to the incident.

A taxi driver and his passenger are also being asked to come forward. The passenger was dropped off at around 3:30 a.m. near the Adam Smith Building. Police are also requesting dashcam footage from the early morning hours.