Gas leak blast demolishes houses in Dutch town of Utrecht, no deaths reported
Reuters
Thu, January 15, 2026 at 9:02 PM UTC
1 min read
Explosion causes large fire in Dutch town of Utrecht
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A firefighter works at the site of a large fire that broke out following an explosion, in Utrecht, Netherlands, January 15, 2026. REUTERS/Piroschka Van De Wouw
UTRECHT, Netherlands, Jan 15 (Reuters) - A gas leak triggered a powerful explosion that destroyed several houses in the central Dutch city of Utrecht on Thursday, injuring four people, local authorities said.
Utrecht Mayor Sharon Dijksma told reporters that none of the injuries were life‑threatening. “The damage is immense, several buildings have collapsed,” she said.
Emergency crews were continuing to search the rubble as a precaution, but there were no reports of missing persons, Dijksma added.
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The explosion occurred in the densely populated centre of the fourth-largest city in the Netherlands around 3:30 p.m. local time (1430 GMT), while the owners of the house were out.
It took firefighters around six hours to get the fire under control.
Dijksma said it was unknown what had caused the gas leak, but added there were no suspicions of foul play.
(Reporting by Benoit Van Overstraeten, Marta Fiorin and Bart Meijer; Editing by Sudip Kar-Gupta and Diane Craft)