Legal Proceedings
The cause of the fire has never been officially verified. One possibility was arson, with several arrests being made by the Dutch police but the fire department stated accidental ignition via an electrical short circuit could not be totally ruled out.
In April 2002, the two managers of the company, Rudi Bakker and Willie Pater, were sentenced to fifteen months' imprisonment for violation of environmental and safety regulations and dealing in illegal fireworks. Furthermore they were found guilty of an explosion with deadly consequences due to criminal negligence.
In May 2003 Arnhem Appeals Court acquitted 36 year-old André de Vries of arson. Almelo Court had originally (May 2002) tried and convicted De Vries of arson and sentenced him to 15 years imprisonment.
A total of €8.5m in compensation was awarded to the victims of the Enschede firework factory explosion according to the organisation in charge of distributing the compensation, the UPV, having assessed 3,519 claims: 300 people cash for incurring extra costs, 136 people money for loss of income and 1,477 people compensation for health problems.
Read more about this topic: Enschede Fireworks Disaster
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