On the night of Sunday, a house in Ellefeld in the Vogtland district in Saxony exploded and burned down together with the neighboring house. The 67-year-old homeowner was missing after the incident, a police spokesman said. It is believed that the man was buried under the rubble of the exploded apartment building.

After the residents first noticed a loud explosion, half of the two terraced houses burned ablaze, the police said. The fire then spread to the house next door. The building was no longer habitable after the fire. The house where the explosion occurred was almost completely in ruins. More than 100 firefighters were still busy extinguishing the fire on Sunday morning.

The material damage caused and the cause of the explosion were not yet known.