German police puzzle over home and car blasts

Police are yet to comment on a potential link between three incidents that all took place on Thursday in different parts of Germany, saying that for the purposes of their investigation, nothing has been ruled in or out.

Nevertheless, almost all the information currently known seems to lead back to a house in Rohrbach in Upper Bavaria that exploded. 

One corpse was found among the rubble. Autopsy results made public on Saturday showed it was the 54-year-old woman who lived at the address. 

Both she and her 55-year-old husband were missing since Thursday.

Another body, burned beyond recognition, was found in a car registered to the Rohrbach home some 30 kilometers (roughly 20 miles) away. It was not immediately clear if the dead man's body was that of the woman's husband. Investigators will use DNA tests to try to establish his identity.

On the same day, a top-floor apartment belonging to the same couple caught fire in Lugau in the eastern state of Saxony, with nobody injured in that incident at a large home incorporating several apartments. 

House in Rohrbach, car in Schrobenhausen, apartment in Lugau

The semi-detached house in Rohrbach, to the north of Munich, was almost completely destroyed by the explosion. The other half of the building was also severely damaged. Three of its residents were unharmed while two others sustained light injuries.

In the wake of the blast, investigators said they suspected a gas explosion. They later added that gas canisters were found in the home. 

Officials cannot yet comment on whether the woman inside the house died during the explosion or was already deceased.

Police tight-lipped on the details

The authorities also found gas canisters in the car that crashed "almost head-on" into a large truck in Schrobenhausen on Thursday after driving down the wrong side of the road. The road accident was reported 20 minutes after the explosion at the home, which is located roughly 20-30 minutes' drive away.

Meanwhile, at the site of the apartment fire in Lugau, around three hours' drive away from the Rohrbach house, police discovered flammable materials. The residence owned by the couple in Bavaria was not occupied or rented out. 

Investigators are yet to comment on local media reports suggesting arson or to confirm the speculations that the three incidents are linked.

"How this all happened, what the background is, that's what the coming investigations need to clear up," a police spokesman in nearby Ingolstadt, Karl Höpfl, said on Saturday. "From our point of view, everything is still completely open." 

He said investigations were likely to extend into next week.

msh/dj (AFP, dpa)