THE BELGIAN government has warned that the death toll from the collapse of an apartment block in Liege could rise to as high as 20.
With nine bodies already pulled from the debris of the city centre building, interior minister Annemie Turtelboom told parliament that firefighters expect to find more bodies. “We are thinking that it could rise to between 15 and 20,” she said.
Ms Turtelboom confirmed that an odour of gas had been detected at the building last Saturday, adding that written reports and recordings of how a complaint was handled had been passed to investigators.
At first it was reported that no problems with the gas supply were detected when the authorities were called to the building by a concerned resident.
Ms Turtelboom said the lessons to be learned from the incident would emerge only after the completion of an inquiry.
Rescuers suspended their work early yesterday morning because of fears that the buildings adjoining the terraced apartment block, which was five storeys high, could collapse. They later resumed their efforts, using only their hands and shovels.
Building workers and engineers have been trying to stabilise the neighbouring blocks to allow the search with heavy equipment to resume.
The building collapsed at about breakfast time on Wednesday as firefighters worked to find residents trapped after a suspected gas explosion in the early hours.
The blast triggered a fire in the building and damaged property and cars nearby. Witnesses said the devastation was akin to that of a bomb blast.
One body was found on Wednesday and rescuers at one point believed that three more people were trapped in the rubble. As they worked through the night, however, eight bodies were found.
Twenty-one people were injured, three of them seriously. One 13- year-old girl was pulled alive from the wreckage on Wednesday.
Prime Minister Yves Leterme was among a number of senior politicians to visit the scene yesterday as emergency shelter was provided for up to 100 local people.