A 50-year-old man from Terneuzen has died after a house fire in a block on Diepenbrockstraat, in the Dutch province of Zeeland. Police confirmed the death the following day. The fire was reported on Saturday evening, 17 October, at about 22.30, in a second-floor flat. Fire crews, ambulances and a trauma helicopter turned out. The cause has not been made public; police are investigating.

NOS, drawing on Omroep Zeeland, writes that residents nearby were taken out of the building and first sheltered in a sports hall. Omroep Zeeland names the complex De Vliegende Vaart. The block has, on the same account, about 70 apartments. Firefighters checked the whole building for carbon monoxide and found no raised levels, so some people could go back.

Not everyone. About ten homes are, for now, uninhabitable. Replacement housing has been arranged for those residents. NOS had earlier put the fire under control around 23.00; a local summary puts that closer to 22.50. The gap is minutes, not a night.

A command post (CoPI) was set up near Diepenbrockstraat, with the emergency services represented. Mayor Franc Weerwind came to the site on Saturday night. That is not a finding of fault: it is a presence with the residents.

Police said in the morning that the help could not change the man’s fate. We do not have, from the published notices, a name for the victim or a finding on how the fire started. One person is dead; about ten homes sit empty; the rest is inquiry.

Image: DimiTalen, Noordstraat, Terneuzen, 29 December 2022, CC0, Wikimedia Commons. Not Diepenbrockstraat and not the night of the fire.

Sources consulted: Dode bij woningbrand Terneuzen, meerdere appartementen onbewoonbaar — NOS; Bewoner appartement Terneuzen overleden na brand — Omroep Zeeland.