Four people were severely wounded in a stabbing attack at a gym in the western German city of Duisburg, police said on Tuesday evening.
No arrests were announced, and police said that they were seeking one suspect.
The motive for the attack was not immediately clear.
Photo: AP
The incident occurred in the old city of Duisburg, and police asked residents to stay at home and avoid the area.
They said a large number of officers were at the scene of the attack, right across from city hall.
Three people were in a life-threatening condition, and one person was less severely injured, Duisburg police wrote on Twitter.
All four injured people are German citizens, police said, without giving any further details about their identities.
“According to current information, one person has injured other people with an object” at a gym, they wrote on Twitter earlier.
Police said that a “stabbing or cutting weapon” was used in the attack.
The attacker appeared to still be on the loose, Deutsche Presse-Agentur reported.
“There has been no arrest,” police told Deutsche Presse-Agentur, adding that a hunt was under way for the attacker.
Investigators also said that it was too early to talk about a possible motive behind the attack.
Several victims were taken to hospital, while investigators searched the gym, Deutsche Presse-Agentur reported.
Several witnesses to the attack, some still with their sports bags, were taken to a nearby restaurant so that police could question them.
Helicopters were hovering above the gym and psychologists were brought in to help shocked witnesses.
Police said they received the first emergency calls at about 5:40pm.
Duisburg has about 500,000 residents and is located at the junction of the Rhine and Ruhr rivers. It used to be famous for its coal mining and steel production, but has in recent decades been plagued by high unemployment and poverty.
Bundestag President Baerbel Bas, who is from Duisburg, expressed shock over the attack.
“Terrible. My thoughts are with the injured,” Bas wrote on Twitter. “I hope that the emergency services will soon be able to clear up the threatening situation.”
Several hours after the attack, the operator of the gym said it deeply regretted the incident.
“We deeply regret the incident at our club in Duisburg and hope that the victims will recover quickly,” John Reed Fitness wrote in an e-mail to Deutsche Presse-Agentur.
The gym chain, which has branches in several cities in Germany and also other countries, said it was supporting the police investigation and that “the safety and health of our members and our employees are our top priority.”
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol on Tuesday declared martial law in an unannounced late night address broadcast live on YTN television. Yoon said he had no choice but to resort to such a measure in order to safeguard free and constitutional order, saying opposition parties have taken hostage of the parliamentary process to throw the country into a crisis. "I declare martial law to protect the free Republic of Korea from the threat of North Korean communist forces, to eradicate the despicable pro-North Korean anti-state forces that are plundering the freedom and happiness of our people, and to protect the free
France on Friday showed off to the world the gleaming restored interior of Notre-Dame cathedral, a week before the 850-year-old medieval edifice reopens following painstaking restoration after the devastating 2019 fire. French President Emmanuel Macron conducted an inspection of the restoration, broadcast live on television, saying workers had done the “impossible” by healing a “national wound” after the fire on April 19, 2019. While every effort has been made to remain faithful to the original look of the cathedral, an international team of designers and architects have created a luminous space that has an immediate impact on the visitor. The floor shimmers and
CHAGOS ISLANDS: Recently elected Mauritian Prime Minister Navin Ramgoolam told lawmakers that the contents of negotiations are ‘unknown’ to the government Mauritius’ new prime minister ordered an independent review of a deal with the UK involving a strategically important US-UK military base in the Indian Ocean, placing the agreement under fresh scrutiny. Under a pact signed last month, the UK ceded sovereignty of the Chagos archipelago to Mauritius, while retaining control of Diego Garcia — the island where the base is situated. The deal was signed by then-Mauritian prime minister Pravind Jugnauth and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Oct. 3 — a month before elections in Mauritius in which Navin Ramgoolam became premier. “I have asked for an independent review of the
LAOS: The bars of bustling Vang Vieng remain open, but information on the investigation into the deaths of six backpackers from suspected methanol poisoning is scarce The music is still playing and the alcohol is still flowing at the bars along one of the party streets in Vang Vieng. Inside a popular venue, a voice over the speaker announces a special offer on beers, as disco lights flicker on the floor. Small paper flags from nations across the world — from the UK to Gabon — hang from the ceiling. Young people travel from all corners of the globe to party in the small town nestled in the Laos countryside, but Vang Vieng is under a global spotlight, following a suspected mass methanol poisoning that killed six
RSS