Germany Hotel Explosion Kills Three

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Nando Times

BREMEN, Germany (July 24, 2000 1:00 p.m. EDT http://www.nandotimes.com)

An explosion ripped through a hotel in a town near Bremen early Monday, killing two men and a woman, police said. Police suspect a gas leak caused the explosion.

Police said three couples were staying in the hotel at the time of the overnight explosion in Thedinghausen, 10 miles southeast of Bremen in northwest Germany.

A German couple and a Swiss man were found dead in the rubble. A Swiss woman was hospitalized with serious injuries, and another German couple escaped the blast unhurt, police said.

Police said late Monday that no one else was believed to have been in the building and that search dogs had checked the area.

Police spokesman Uwe Homes said the cause of the blast was still undetermined, however, "we suspect it was a gas explosion, but we won't know for sure until the rubble is cleared away."

About three-quarters of the structure, which also houses a restaurant and dance hall, was destroyed and the rest of the building was in danger of collapsing, police said.

-- Rachel Gibson (rgibson@hotmail.com), July 25, 2000


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