Gas explosion in St. Pölten in 2010
The gas explosion in St. Pölten occurred on June 3, 2010 at 7:55 a.m. in St. Pölten , Lower Austria . Five people died when the apartment building collapsed.
course
Accident
About 20 years before the accident, a high voltage and a gas pipeline were laid independently of each other in the affected street. According to the initial results of the investigation, these were placed next to each other at an insufficient distance of less than 30 centimeters. On the eve of the explosion, a short circuit in the high-voltage line presumably caused an electric arc that tore an approximately ten centimeter hole in the crossing gas line. This incident resulted in a lengthy power outage in large parts of St. Pölten; a pressure drop in the gas pipeline has not been registered , according to a spokesman for EVN . From this point on, gas should have seeped through the ground into the building.
The explosion occurred on June 3, 2010 at around 7:55 am. The two-party house was almost completely destroyed by the detonation and went up in flames. The resulting pressure wave and the flying debris damaged buildings twenty meters away.
commitment
The first rescue workers arrived shortly after the explosion. In addition to the volunteer fire departments and the police were three shortly after the message ambulance wagons , two emergency helicopters and 17 ambulances from Samaritan and the Red Cross and the mobile control center alerted the Samaritans. Originally seven people were missing, but a married couple living in the house were not in the building at the time of the accident, and another resident of the building stayed overnight. 19 people were evacuated from the surrounding buildings, some of whom had to be taken to hospital with smoke poisoning.
Although EVN shut off the gas supply over a large area, gas continued to flow in, so that the extinguishing work was difficult at first, as new sources of explosion could form everywhere. The fire sites were also difficult to reach due to the cone of rubble. The heavy smoke development, which made heavy breathing protection necessary, was also a problem . In order not to endanger buried victims, the individual rubble of the fire ruin had to be removed mainly by hand and with a crane vehicle. The excavators used also made very slow progress in their search for the missing persons.
The first missing person could not be recovered until around 5 p.m., the work of the emergency services on site lasted until 5 a.m. the next morning. A total of 900 emergency services were deployed. In addition to 620 firefighters from 33 fire departments with 75 vehicles, the Samaritan Association and Red Cross with 110 men, the police with 100 officers, three search dog teams with 30 dog handlers and crisis intervention teams with 8 people were on site.
examination
The entire rubble (440 tons) was seized by the public prosecutor and stored at the construction yard in order to determine the exact causes.
About two weeks after the explosion, three experts, an electrotechnical, a geological and a fire expert, had completed their investigations at the site of the accident. However, another expert was commissioned. The public prosecutor's office originally expected the results of the investigations to be in August or September; later, a result was expected two to three months later. On July 1st, the site was released after a last on-site inspection.
The final report from the Lower Austrian State Criminal Police Office was available in mid-September. In it, the improper laying of the gas and power lines in 1992 is regarded as one of the main causes of the accident, but this offense was already time barred. Nevertheless, a complaint was initially filed against unknown persons, at this point three reports were still pending. These arrived at the public prosecutor's office in February 2011.
In October 2011, the St. Pölten public prosecutor announced that it had stopped investigations against employees of EVN and two construction companies. Previously, due to negligent homicide under particularly dangerous conditions and negligent public endangerment was determined. In the cause of the accident, the earthworks in 1991 and 1992, negligent mistakes were made, which, however, have already expired.
consequences
The watercolors and woodcuts by one of the victims, Walter Aicher, were exhibited in Korneuburg in September 2010 .
The surviving granddaughter of the artist wants to green the unfortunate property and plant five trees, one for each victim.
In January 2012 it became known that the only survivor, who was not in the building at the time of the accident, had received six-figure compensation out of court from EVN. In total, EVN had to pay a single-digit million sum for compensation and repairs.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Gas accident in St. Pölten: Many open questions . In: Die Presse , online edition, June 7, 2010
- ↑ Botchy was to blame for the gas inferno
- ↑ Gas explosion: cause of leak found on oe1.orf.at, June 5, 2010
- ↑ Gas explosion St. Pölten - photos, current reports ( Memento of the original from June 8, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on landeshauptstadt.at
- ↑ PL: Explosion destroys house ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on 144.at
- ↑ a b Mission report of the St. Pölten volunteer fire brigade ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ a b Posthumous exhibition of a victim in: Kurier , online edition, September 4, 2010
- ↑ Description of the mission on fireworld.at
- ↑ Gas explosion in the state capital - Unfortunately, all 5 victims could only be recovered dead ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on samariterbund.net
- ^ Mission report of the Wagram Volunteer Fire Brigade
- ↑ Cause research in the rubble ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. in the Salzburger Nachrichten of June 4, 2010, accessed on June 9, 2010
- ↑ Gas explosion: Another expert appointed at noe.orf.at, June 15, 2010
- ^ Clarification of the gas explosion is delayed on gasoffer.net from August 19, 2010
- ↑ Gas explosion: accident site released on noe.orf.at, July 1, 2010
- ↑ Five dead: No culprit found in: Kurier , online edition, September 21, 2010
- ↑ Gas explosion: All reports are available at noe.orf.at, February 3, 2011
- ^ After a gas explosion: Justice must fit in: Kurier , online edition, October 8, 2011
- ↑ Gas explosion: proceedings discontinued on noe.orf.at, October 7, 2011
- ↑ Line under gas accident in: Kurier , online edition, January 31, 2012
Coordinates: 48 ° 11 ′ 40 " N , 15 ° 37 ′ 27.7" E