Emmanuel Thomas, DPA, Tuesday, June 20, 2023
SANKT AUGUSTIN – The bodies of two missing firefighters were found in the rubble of a motorcycle shop in the western German village of Sankt Augustin early on Monday.
The two firefighters, a man and a woman, had been among a team from the local volunteer fire brigade called out to a fire in a village near Germany’s former capital Bonn on Sunday around midday.
Their bodies were discovered in the early hours of Monday, during salvage operations.
More than 200 emergency personnel were on the scene to extinguish the fire in the motorcycle store and adjacent workshop. Eleven of them were injured, and five of them had to be taken to hospital.
It’s still not clear what caused the fire, which sent a column of black smoke 50 metres above the village. Police cordoned off the area around the scene and residents were told to keep their windows closed.
“This tragic event makes us all dismayed and stunned,” Sankt Augustin Mayor Max Leitterstorf said.
“First and foremost, our thoughts and sympathy are with the families and relatives of the two, as well as with their comrades of the Sankt Augustin Volunteer Fire Department.”
