Enlarge image
Traces of fire on the facade of the residential building in Solingen
Photo: Oliver Berg/dpa
According to a preliminary report, the major fire in an apartment building in Solingen with four deaths was caused by intentional arson. The Wuppertal public prosecutor announced this on Wednesday. Therefore, murder or attempted murder is being investigated.
A father, a mother and two children from a family were killed in the fire on Monday morning. Another nine people were taken to hospitals with injuries of varying severity.
According to the information, the fire started in the stairwell of the old building. The fire spread to the roof within five minutes due to a so-called chimney effect. “Clear remains of an accelerant” were found in the wooden stairwell. Based on this finding, “intentional arson” must be assumed.
When the fire brigade arrived, the wooden stairwell was already fully ablaze, meaning the escape route was blocked. Several residents jumped out of the windows in panic. The fire department deployed up to 120 emergency services.
Fire experts inspected the house, which had become uninhabitable, on Tuesday to clarify the cause of the fire. The experts' initial assessment was "clear," according to the public prosecutor's office.
No “xenophobic motive”
Five women and girls of Turkish origin died in a racist attack in Solingen on May 29, 1993 after right-wing extremists set their house on fire.
There is no evidence of a “xenophobic motive” in the major fire on Monday. Wuppertal public prosecutor Heribert Kaune-Gebhardt announced this on Wednesday. According to the prosecutor, it is probably a family from Bulgaria. The parents were 28 and 29 years old, one child was almost three years old and an infant was five months old.
kfr/dpa