- It was both shock and sadness.

It feels incredibly sad what has happened, says Maria Åberg who is acting pastor and continues:

- There are so many here who love their church.

Prevent spread

When the rescue service arrived at the church, the tower was completely overheated and the forces focused on preventing it from spreading to the church.

- We succeeded with that, but the whole tower is collapsed and completely destroyed, says Richard Wertheimer who is internal commander of the rescue service.

It is unclear what caused the fire in the tower, which was built in 1775. However, there are suspicions that the fire may have been started and the police have initiated a preliminary investigation into the arson.

The fire site is cordoned off pending a forensic investigation to be carried out as soon as possible by forensic technicians.