Overview
- An explosion in the dining area of a downtown Ingolstadt restaurant left a 51-year-old staff member with severe burns that required specialist care.
- Two restaurant patrons — a guest and the manager — put out the blaze before emergency crews arrived and the fire only damaged some furnishings.
- Four guests told police they saw the injured employee refilling an ethanol tabletop stove with bioethanol when the flash occurred, and officers are using those accounts in their on-scene probe.
- The victim suffered second- and third-degree burns and was urgently transferred to a specialist clinic in Nuremberg for treatment.
- Ethanol tabletop burners can flash back or explode if liquid fuel is added while the burner is hot or lit, and investigators will determine whether the incident was accidental or involved negligence which could affect safety rules and liability.