The incident occurred around 3am on Tuesday night, jolting the town’s 2,500 inhabitants from their sleep.
Speaking to AFP, Mayor Hamdi Toudma confirmed the events, first reported in the daily newspaper Le Républicain lorrain, indicating that the explosions took place mere seconds apart. The location of the incident was less than a hundred meters from the Luxembourg border, with Longlaville adjacent to Rodange in the municipality of Pétange.
“Both ATMs went up in flames. Then the building caught fire,” the mayor reported.
As criminal investigation authorities arrived at the scene, specific details regarding the potential loot taken by the perpetrators were yet to be disclosed.
A couple with a young child, woken by the blasts, managed to evacuate the building before it was consumed by the flames. According to the mayor, around 30 firefighters and four or five fire engines were deployed, battling the fire for approximately four to five hours before it was extinguished.
The municipality launched an appeal for donations to support the family residing on the second floor of the building, who “lost everything” in the fire. In addition, another family on the third floor, although not present during the explosions, will also need to be rehoused.
