A fire broke out in a house on Grote Bameriklaan in Kuringen on Sunday evening. The resident, a 51-year-old Belgian man of Indian origin, died on the spot. He leaves behind two children.
Dirk Jacobs as Olivier Simons
Monday, February 12, 2024 at 12:06 PM
The fire broke out on Sunday around 9 p.m. in a house in the Rode Rok social housing estate. At that time, the resident, a Belgian of Indian descent, was home alone. The man in his fifties has been living in the rental house of Wonen in Limburg (WIL) since the beginning of 2023. “It was a correct tenant, who we never actually heard anything from,” they say. “The house has also been completely renovated. For example, the electrical wiring and smoke detectors are new. But that apparently could not help the man on Sunday evening.”
Resuscitation
It was the neighbor who heard the fire alarm and notified the emergency services. The South West Limburg fire brigade arrived on site to extinguish the fire. “The fire started in the kitchen,” says Captain Tom Timmermans. “There is a lot of fire damage there, including to the stove, cupboards and ceiling. The rest of the house suffered heavy smoke damage. It is uninhabitable.” The adjacent house was not damaged.
It soon became apparent that the resident of the house had not gotten out in time. The emergency services found him in the living room. The 51-year-old man was resuscitated for a long time, but all help came too late. He died on the spot, probably from CO poisoning.
The Limburg Capital Region police cordoned off the area. The Limburg public prosecutor’s office was informed, the laboratory and a medical examiner were called to investigate the circumstances of the deadly fire. On Monday morning it became clear that it was an accidental fire. The cause is probably the gas stove in the kitchen.
The man lived alone in the home. He shared custody of his two children with his ex-wife, from whom he lived separately. The children stayed with their father every other week. Not much more than that is known about him. “The man was very withdrawn,” says a neighbor. “We hardly saw him on the street or in the neighborhood. And when we saw him, there was a quick hello, that’s all. Nothing wrong with that, but he didn’t really live in the community and preferred to stay in the cocoon of his home.”
This year, eighteen people have already died in house fires in our country. This is the first victim in Limburg. Last year there were three deaths from fires in our province.
