A Danish man convicted of torturing and murdering a Swedish journalist on his homemade submarine escaped the suburban Copenhagen jail where he is serving a life sentence but was found nearby Tuesday.
The Ekstra Bladet tabloid posted a video of Peter Madsen sitting in the grass with his hands behind his back and police at distance. According to the daily, Madsen “had a belt-like object around the abdomen.”
On Twitter, police said “a man has been arrested after attempted escape. We have investigators on a site that is cordoned off.” No other details were immediately available.
Police officers attend the scene after Peter Madsen was apprehended following a failed escape attempt in Albertslund, Denmark, Tuesday Oct. 20, 2020. The self-taught Danish engineer, who was convicted of torturing and murdering a Swedish journalist on his homemade submarine in 2017 before dismembering her body and dumping it at sea, on Tuesday was captured after attempted prison escape outside the suburban Copenhagen jail where he is serving life-time sentence. (Nils MeilvangRitzau Scanpix via AP)
In 2018, Madsen was sentenced in the Copenhagen City Court to life in prison for killing Kim Wall, a 30-year-old reporter from Sweden who he lured aboard his homemade submarine in 2017 with the promise of an interview. He dismembered her body and dumped it at sea.
Madsen lost his appeal, shortly after apologizing to the victim’s family who were present in the appeals court. The sensational case has gripped Scandinavia.
Madsen has denied murdering Wall. He claims she died accidentally inside the submarine but he has confessed to throwing her body parts into the Baltic Sea.
Police officers attend the scene after Peter Madsen was apprehended following a failed escape attempt in Albertslund, Denmark, Tuesday Oct. 20, 2020. The self-taught Danish engineer, who was convicted of torturing and murdering a Swedish journalist on his homemade submarine in 2017 before dismembering her body and dumping it at sea, on Tuesday was captured after attempted prison escape outside the suburban Copenhagen jail where he is serving life-time sentence. (Nils MeilvangRitzau Scanpix via AP)
Life sentences in Denmark usually mean 16 years in prison, but convicts are reassessed to determine whether they would pose a danger to society if released and can be kept longer.
COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Danish firefighters toiled Wednesday to extinguish the last pockets of a fire that gutted Copenhagen’s 400-year-old stock exchange building the previous day, as owners of the structure looked ahead to rebuilding the iconic landmark.
Tuesday’s blaze, which destroyed half of the building and toppled its dragon-tail spire, was believed to have started on the roof during renovations, but the cause remained unclear and police had yet to enter the burned part of the building to investigate.
No injuries were reported despite a hectic scramble in the first hour of the fire to remove valuables, with citizen volunteers helping officials and firefighters in an effort that managed to salvage much of the building’s priceless artwork.
“This is sad, so sad,” 44-year-old civil servant Mikkel Jensen said Wednesday as he looked up at twisted scaffolding still clinging to the ruins of the Old Stock Exchange.
The building, which dates from 1615 and is named the Boersen in Danish, is known for its green copper roof and distinctive 56-meter (184-foot) spire in the shape of four intertwined dragon tails.
Morten Langager, manager of the Danish Chamber of Commerce, which was headquartered in the Old Stock Exchange and owned the building, said it should “rise again.” His boss, chamber head Brian Mikkelsen, said the building will be rebuilt “no matter what” and that the board backed the idea.
The building was undergoing extensive renovations, and there are detailed records of the entire structure's architecture, including photographs taken just last week of the dragon spire by the National Museum in Copenhagen.
However, no decision has yet been made about who will reconstruct the building, a project which would cost millions, if not billions of kroner (dollars). A cautious estimate said it could take up to 10 years.
Many in Denmark compared Tuesday’s fire to the April 2019 blaze at Notre Dame that destroyed the spire of the 800-year-old cathedral. Its restoration is slated for completion this year.
The extent of the damage, caused by flames and the tons of water poured to extinguish them, was still unknown.
“A lot has disappeared in the fire,” said Tim Ole Simonsen of the Greater Copenhagen Fire Department, which was working to secure remaining outer walls. Up to 40 shipping containers, filled with concrete, will be put around them to stabilize them, the fire department said.
That work will continue through the night. “The work is extensive and requires a large amount of equipment,” the fire department said in a statement.
Police hadn't yet been able to enter the burned part of the building to begin investigating the cause of the fire, said Brian Belling, a Copenhagen police officer in charge of the investigation.
“It can take a long time to find the cause of a fire,” Belling said.
When the fire engulfed the building on Tuesday, passers-by, Chamber of Commerce staff, police officers and members of an army unit that had been sent to help raced inside the building to save its treasures.
Mikkelsen, who was one of the employees who ran in, told public broadcaster DR that the building had made a plan for what to save in a “worst case” scenario. When it became too dangerous for people to go up to the first floor, firefighters with breathing gear were sent in to retrieve priceless items, he said, adding that many of the building’s most valuable contents, which included irreplaceable paintings and other works of art, had been saved.
Among items saved was the huge 1895 painting “From Copenhagen Stock Exchange" by Danish artist P.S. Krøyer, the Chamber of Commerce said.
About an hour after the first reports of the fire on Tuesday, the blaze engulfed the spire and sent it crashing onto the building, which was shrouded by scaffolding, and onto the street behind.
The fire sent huge billows of smoke over downtown Copenhagen, and many government offices located nearby remained closed Wednesday because of a strong smell of smoke in the buildings. Employees were told to work from home.
The buildings must be cleaned and their ventilation checked before government ministry staff can return, said Rasmus Brandt Lassen, head of the Danish Building and Property Agency.
“We have told them that they should expect to work at home for the rest of the week,” Brandt Lassen said.
The exchange is considered a leading example of the Dutch Renaissance style in Denmark. The Chamber of Commerce moved into the building after Copenhagen’s stock exchange left in 1974.
Its dragon spire was one of the many of topping the city's churches and castles, which have earned Copenhagen its nickname as “the city of spires.” Other copper-covered belfries include the serpentine spire of Our Savior’s Church, those of the Renaissance Rosenborg Castle downtown, and the tower of the Christiansborg Palace which houses the Danish parliament.
A main road running past the Old Stock Exchange remained closed Wednesday.
Firefighters work as smoke rise out of the Old Stock Exchange, Boersen, in Copenhagen, Denmark, Tuesday, April 16, 2024. One of Copenhagen’s oldest buildings is on fire and its iconic spire has collapsed. The building, which is situated next to the Christiansborg Palace where the parliament sits, is a popular tourist attraction. Its distinctive spire, in the shape of the tails of four dragons twined together, reached a height of 56 meters (184 feet). (Emil Helms/Ritzau Scanpix via AP)
The spire collapses as fire and smoke rise out of the Old Stock Exchange, Boersen, in Copenhagen, Denmark, Tuesday, April 16, 2024. One of Copenhagen’s oldest buildings is on fire and its iconic spire has collapsed. The building, which is situated next to the Christiansborg Palace where the parliament sits, is a popular tourist attraction. Its distinctive spire, in the shape of the tails of four dragons twined together, reached a height of 56 meters (184 feet). (Ida Marie Odgaard/Ritzau Scanpix via AP)
Fire and smoke rise out of the Old Stock Exchange, Boersen, in Copenhagen, Denmark, Tuesday, April 16, 2024. One of Copenhagen’s oldest buildings is on fire and its iconic spire has collapsed. The copper roof of the 17th-century Old Stock Exchange, or Boersen, that was once Denmark’s financial center, was engulfed in flames Tuesday. (Ida Marie Odgaard/Ritzau Scanpix via AP)
People ride bicycles as smoke rises from the Old Stock Exchange in Copenhagen, Denmark, Tuesday, April 16, 2024. A fire raged through one of Copenhagen’s oldest buildings on Tuesday, causing the collapse of the iconic spire of the 17th-century Old Stock Exchange as passersby rushed to help emergency services save priceless paintings and other valuables. (Emil Nicolai Helms/Ritzau Scanpix via AP)
CEO of Danish Business, Brian Mikkelsen, and others carry paintings out of the burning building as the Stock Exchange burns in Copenhagen, Denmark, Tuesday, April 16, 2024. A fire raged through one of Copenhagen’s oldest buildings on Tuesday, causing the collapse of the iconic spire of the 17th-century Old Stock Exchange as passersby rushed to help emergency services save priceless paintings and other valuables. (Ida Marie Odgaard/Ritzau Scanpix via AP)
People react to a fire as the Old Stock Exchange building burns in Copenhagen, Denmark, Tuesday, April 16, 2024. A fire raged through one of Copenhagen’s oldest buildings on Tuesday, causing the collapse of the iconic spire of the 17th-century Old Stock Exchange as passersby rushed to help emergency services save priceless paintings and other valuables. (Ida Marie Odgaard/Ritzau Scanpix via AP)
Former Danish Minister of Culture and current CEO of Danish Business, Brian Mikkelsen, left, assists with the evacuation of paintings from the Boersen burning in Copenhagen on Tuesday, April 16, 2024. A fire raged through one of Copenhagen’s oldest buildings on Tuesday, causing the collapse of the iconic spire of the 17th-century Old Stock Exchange as passersby rushed to help emergency services save priceless paintings and other valuables. (Ida Marie Odgaard/Ritzau Scanpix via AP)
Fire rages from the dragon spire of the Stock Exchange in Copenhagen, Denmark, Tuesday, April 16, 2024. A fire raged through one of Copenhagen’s oldest buildings on Tuesday, causing the collapse of the iconic spire of the 17th-century Old Stock Exchange as passersby rushed to help emergency services save priceless paintings and other valuables. (Ida Marie Odgaard/Ritzau Scanpix via AP)
Fire rages from the dragon spire of the Stock Exchange in Copenhagen, Denmark, Tuesday, April 16, 2024. A fire raged through one of Copenhagen’s oldest buildings on Tuesday, causing the collapse of the iconic spire of the 17th-century Old Stock Exchange as passersby rushed to help emergency services save priceless paintings and other valuables. (Ida Marie Odgaard/Ritzau Scanpix via AP)
Firefighters work on the building after a fire broke out at the Stock Exchange in Copenhagen, Tuesday, April 16, 2024. The fire was reported Tuesday morning in the historic building, which was undergoing renovation. (Mads Claus Rasmussen/Ritzau Scanpix)
Firefighters work on the building after a fire broke out at the Stock Exchange in Copenhagen, Tuesday, April 16, 2024. The fire was reported Tuesday morning in the historic building, which was undergoing renovation. (Ida Marie Odgaard/Ritzau Scanpix)
Emergency management work to finish extinguishing the fire and to secure the area in the building of the former Stock Exchange of Copenhagen, Boersen, Wednesday, April 17, 2024. A fire raged through one of Copenhagen’s oldest buildings on Tuesday, causing the collapse of the iconic spire of the 17th-century Old Stock Exchange as passersby rushed to help emergency services save priceless paintings and other valuables. (Liselotte Sabroe/Ritzau Scanpix via AP)
Emergency management work in the former Stock Exchange of Copenhagen, Boersen, Wednesday, April 17, 2024. A fire raged through one of Copenhagen’s oldest buildings on Tuesday, causing the collapse of the iconic spire of the 17th-century Old Stock Exchange as passersby rushed to help emergency services save priceless paintings and other valuables. (Liselotte Sabroe/Ritzau Scanpix via AP)
Emergency management work to secure the area after a fire in the former Stock Exchange of Copenhagen, Boersen, Wednesday, April 17, 2024. A fire raged through one of Copenhagen’s oldest buildings on Tuesday, causing the collapse of the iconic spire of the 17th-century Old Stock Exchange as passersby rushed to help emergency services save priceless paintings and other valuables. (Liselotte Sabroe/Ritzau Scanpix via AP)
Emergency management work in the former Stock Exchange of Copenhagen, Boersen, Wednesday, April 17, 2024. A fire raged through one of Copenhagen’s oldest buildings on Tuesday, causing the collapse of the iconic spire of the 17th-century Old Stock Exchange as passersby rushed to help emergency services save priceless paintings and other valuables. (Liselotte Sabroe/Ritzau Scanpix via AP)
