Five people injured in blaze in apartment block in Basel
Several people were rescued with an aerial ladder after a fire broke out at an apartment block in Basel on Sunday.
The fire broke out at 11.30am in the cellar of a five-storey property in Reinacherstrasse, the prosecution of Basel-Stadt said.
The fire brigade evacuated five people with an aerial ladder, including a toddler. Other residents were able to escape without help. According to a spokesperson of the prosecution, around a dozen people had been in the house when the fire broke out. Five people, aged 2 to 69 years, were taken to hospital for treatment for suspected smoke inhalation.
During the rescue, parts of Reinacherstrasse and Güterstrasse were closed off. The fire caused a large amount of damage to the property, which is currently uninhabitable. The two dozen residents of the apartment block have been moved to temporary accommodation.
The reason for the fire remains unclear and is being investigated by the criminal police.
Charles Vögele to leave Barfi in mid-August
The shop windows of Charles Vögele on Barfüsserplatz are plastered with sales-posters. “Everything reduced - we are closing the branch”. In September, the second OVS branch will open on the site.
The fashion shop is set to close down on 12 August, a spokesperson for Charles Vögele said. One month later, after a renovation, an OVS branch will open. This will be the Italian fashion firm's second branch in Basel with the new concept - the countrywide pilot opened at MParc. Also, the Vögele branch in Greifengasse will close soon after the one at Barfüsserplatz for renovations and be reopened as an OVS in November.
Takeover by OVS
All Charles Vögele shops will have disappeared from Switzerland by the end of the year. Each of them will be replaced by an OVS branch - an Italian fashion label which has taken over the concern based in Zurich. Since the takeover last autumn, the Italian owners have cut 240 jobs, mostly in logistics. However, 150 to 200 new sales jobs are set to be created: “Each of five pilot shops sells twice as many clothes as Charles Vögele. We will therefore need more staff to prepare, fill up, and tidy up the clothes and serve the counter,” OVS boss Stefano Beraldo said.
There will be no job cuts in Basel and the entire sales staff will remain on the payroll, the firm has promised.
Online-shopping closes end of June
Together with the branches, the online shop of Charles Vögele will close. It will be possible to shop online with the firm up until 30 June.
Serious accident in Binningen causes death of 31-year-old cyclist
A cyclist has died after a collision with a lorry in Binningen, Baselland, early on Monday morning.
The accident happened shortly after 6am on Bottmingerstrasse at the junction with Gorenmattstrasse.
According to early investigations by Baselland police, both the lorry driver and the cyclist had been on Gorenmattstrasse and were heading in the direction of Bottmingerstrasse. The lorry driver, who intended to turn right, had to stop at the junction. During the turning manoeuvre the bicycle collided head-on with the lorry. The 31-year-old woman died at the scene.
The exact reason for the accident is the topic of on-going investigations by the traffic unit of Baselland police. The prosecution of Baselland has opened a criminal case.
In course of the accident, Bottmingerstrasse was completely closed to all traffic for five hours. The traffic was locally deviated. The tram lines 10 and 17 were temporary stopped. Replacement buses were operating between Hüslimatt and Heuwaage.