Several floors of a parking garage at the Sint Antonius Hospital in Nieuwegein have collapsed. This is reported by the Utrecht Safety Region. Images show that great chaos has arisen in the garage.
It is currently unknown whether anyone was present in the garage at the time of the collapse. The fire brigade and emergency services were deployed en masse. A police helicopter hovers over the area. The incident was reported around ten this evening. That is well outside the hospital’s usual visiting hours.
According to a journalist present, the police are having “difficulty with the many disaster tourists” who have come to see the incident. “A press box has now been created,” reports Justin Egberts on X.
Local residents informed the press that they heard a loud bang. One of them thought lightning struck, but it was clear at the time and that could probably be ruled out as a cause. Hundreds of people have now come to the scene of the accident, it said Algemeen Dagblad. According to the Dutch newspaper, the fire brigade on site asks for silence so that cries for help can be heard.
Stefan, who lives nearby, was home when it happened. “I heard a loud thump, and then a few more after it. The windows of our house were shaking, so I went to take a look,” he says at RTV Utrecht. He then saw a large dust cloud arise above the parking garage. “A little while later I saw people with flashlights walking across the second or third floor.”
In 2017, research was reportedly conducted into the safety of the floor of the parking garage in question in Nieuwegein, it is known. Algemeen Dagblad yet. That investigation took place at the time because the garage has the same type of floor construction as the parking garage that collapsed that year at Eindhoven Airport. The investigation showed that the safety of the floor was in order. The Q-Park garage has six floors and can be reached via two access roads.
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