His holdall was on a bench |
Tourist drives dead in Alster
Hamburg – What happened at the fine Ballindamm?
5:53 a.m. in the morning. Emergency call from a passer-by. He sees a man with black sneakers and conspicuous red and white soles drifting motionless in the Binnenalster. With your face in the water.
Big alarm: “THWAY” is triggered. This stands for Technical Assistance Water, Human Lives in Danger. The fire engine 11 of the city guard, an operations manager (B service), a turntable ladder, small boats from the Pöseldorf and Berliner Tor defense forces, ambulances and an emergency doctor race up. The fire brigade divers also move out.
Fire engines stop at Ballindamm
The police are the first to arrive at the Binnenalster with four patrol cars. An officer lies flat on the ground on the promenade and pulls the man closer. “Certain signs of death,” is reported.
There is a holdall on a nearby bench. Apparently that of the dead man in the Alster. Police officers open them. A blue shoe box is pulled out, neatly stowed in a pair of sneakers. Further in the travel bag, clothes neatly folded. Then the officers have what they were looking for: an ID card. First insight: the man in the water is a Lithuanian tourist.
Blue light, siren. The fire department arrives. It is confirmed once more: “Sure signs of death.” The divers are awaited. They have special training to get the dead out of the water in such a way that traces of a possible crime are not damaged.
The body is taken to the medical examiner’s office. “So far, there is apparently no evidence of third-party debt,” said an official. We are now awaiting the result of the autopsy.
An official: “We don’t know exactly what happened yet. Maybe the man fell into the water while urinating. Of course, it also has to be checked whether it might have been pushed. The permanent criminal service has taken over the investigations.”
A police officer kneels on the promenade on the Binnenalster