A violent explosion in the attic of a residential building that shook the northern German city of Bremen early Thursday morning killed at least three people, Xinhua reported.
Rescue workers found the bodies of a 41-year-old woman and her seven-year-old son. In the neighboring house another inhabitant, who was 70, was also killed in the accident, the local media Focus Online quoted a police spokeswoman as saying.
The adjacent terraced houses were badly damaged by the explosion, but fortunately the inhabitants there have not been injured.
The flames were extinguished on Thursday, but the ruins were still hot. Within a radius of 100 meters, the police have evacuated all the houses as a precautionary measure. Around 70 firefighters were on duty.
The cause of the explosion is still unclear, police have said.