One of the six people found dead after an explosion caused the partial collapse of an apartment building in The Hague a few days ago has been identified by family members as Vikel Kaberai, a civil engineer of Greek and Albanian nationality who had been living in the Netherlands for more than two years.

Greek engineer, father of 3 killed in Hague disaster “was in love with The Netherlands” https://t.co/WpGhaCsiWW

— NL Times (@NL_Times) December 10, 2024

The 44-year-old leaves behind his wife and their three young children, a 7-month-old boy, a 6-year-old girl and a 10-year-old boy. The loss of the 44-year-old was so excited about building a life in the Netherlands it was devastating to friends and family, his wife, Maria Apostolakis, told NL Times.

“How could this happen?” the unfortunate man’s wife asked, unable to hold back her tears. She was watching the updates on the disaster in The Hague from their home near Athens.

“It was like watching a movie. It just wasn’t real,” she continued. All the while, the children kept asking “if their dad was alive” and why they couldn’t call him. Distraught, Apostolaki recounted how she felt helpless and didn’t know what to tell them. Her distress was compounded by the sense that Dutch authorities were keeping her in the dark as search efforts continued.

It took two-and-a-half days to confirm Caberay’s death

The causes of the explosions and fire remain under investigation. The explosions were first reported at about 6:15 a.m. Saturday and firefighters worked for hours trying to fight the flames as the building’s walls collapsed. Four people were rescued during the initial operation, but concerns about the structure of the building delayed further search efforts.

Between late Saturday afternoon and early Monday morning, the bodies of six people were recovered, including two parents and their 17-year-old daughter. The girl’s 8-year-old brother survived.

It wasn’t until Monday night that Maria Apostolaki learned that her husband was no longer considered missing and that he was one of the victims in the incident. He was identified after a family member gave a DNA sample to Dutch authorities investigating the disaster, she said.