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Cleaning spray sets off shock explosion in Frankfurt cafe

The Local Germany
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Cleaning spray sets off shock explosion in Frankfurt cafe
Photo: Frankfurt fire department.

Four people have been injured in an explosion at a cafe in a Frankfurt shopping district. The culprit: cleaning products.

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When emergency services arrived the site of a blast at a street cafe on Berger Strasse in the financial capital at about 4pm on Monday they were met by a scene of destruction.

Four people had been injured, some of them seriously. Walls were damaged and all of the windows at the front were shattered, with shards of glass covering tables and chairs outside on the pavement, according to a fire department report.

All because of a bottle of cleaning product.

Photo: Frankfurt fire department.

Apparently an employee had been tidying up the cafe, and was using a spray cleaning product to touch up the refrigerator in a small side room of the restaurant.

But somehow the fumes released from the bottle caught fire and caused the explosion.

Fearing a gas leak, firefighters evacuated the building and shut off the gas supply.

The damage is estimated at around €200,000, but it is still not clear how the cleaning product led to the blast.

“The exact circumstances which led to the combustion of the gas-air mixture are still unclear and are currently under investigation,” firefighters wrote.

Berger Strasse is the longest shopping street in Frankfurt, stretching about three kilometres through the Hessian city.

Photo: Frankfurt fire department.

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