Europe Features
German town remains in shock after fatal blaze
By DPA
Feb 6, 2008, 16:34 GMT

Ludwigshafen, Germany - Zeki Karakaplan wipes the tears from his eyes in front of the burned-out apartments in the south-western city of Ludwigshafen.

The 63-year-old survived Sunday's blaze, but his 22-year-old daughter perished in the flames that engulfed the low-rent building inhabited by Turkish families.

Standing next to Karakaplan is Mustafa Said Yazicioglu, the Turkish minister who looks after the affairs of his countrymen living abroad. He, too, is overcome with emotion.

Yazicioglu has brought with him four Turkish investigations to help the 50-strong German team looking into the causes of the blaze.

Turkey wants to know what happened, he says.

It remained unclear on Wednesday what caused the tragedy, which claimed nine lives and injured 60 in the industrial city's worst fire since World War II.

Was it arson or a technical defect? That is the question on the minds of both Turks and Germans.

Investigators were able to conduct their first thorough examination of the four-storey building on Wednesday. It was unsafe to go in beforehand.

A sniffer dog was the first to enter the ruins. Ten experts and another dog followed.

The animals are using their sensitive noses to sniff for traces of petrol or other combustive agents that might have been brought into the building to start the fire deliberately.

The arson theory was provided by two young girls who told investigators they saw a man lighting a fire in the entrance of the building.

Police remained tight-lipped after interviewing the girls. The prosecutor in charge of the investigation, Lothar Liebig, said their evidence was one of several aspects under consideration in the probe.

German Immigration Commissioner Maria Boehmer, who with Yazicioglu placed a wreath at the scene on Wednesday, warned against jumping to conclusions.

But rumours are rife that families living in the building had been subjected to threats and that rooms on the ground floor used to be a popular neo-Nazi meeting point.

Flowers and wreaths have been placed in front of the gutted building, which is sealed off by a metal fence from which a small red and white Turkish flag hangs limply in the rain.

Groups of Turkish men and women stand in front of the barrier, hoping to learn what caused the tragedy.

The Ludwigshafen fire brigade has been accused in the Turkish media of responding too slowly to the blaze. It was all too much for their chief, Peter Friedrich, who broke down in tears on Wednesday.