COPENHAGEN: Half of Denmark’s Old Stock Exchange was completely burnt out with only outer walls remaining after flames had engulfed the building and caused the roof to collapse in Tuesday’s (Apr 16) devastating fire, Danish officials said on Wednesday.
The blaze that ripped through the 400-year-old landmark building, toppling its spire in a scene reminiscent of the 2019 fire at Paris’ Notre-Dame Cathedral, was still burning in some hard-to-access places.
A smell of burning hung in the air on Wednesday while fire fighters on a crane flushed water down into the building as smoke still rose from the debris.
A bouquet of sunflowers had been laid in front of the building, which had been undergoing extensive restoration when the fire broke out.
Police investigating the incident said it could take months to determine the cause. No one was hurt in the blaze.
“Right now we are waiting for the fire to be put out and then we will go inside to survey the scene. It is not a safe area so we have not been inside to look yet,” Copenhagen police Deputy Commissioner Rune Nielsen told Reuters.
Roughly half the Dutch Renaissance-style building was saved, although massive damage still occurred as firefighters had drenched it in water.
“Everything that was once part of the storey partitions and building structures inside has been burnt away,” Copenhagen Fire Department Operations Chief Frank Trier Mikkelsen told Reuters, referring to the part of the building worst hit.
“Only the outer walls remain, leaving an empty shell,” he said.
