The Oktoberfest beer festival in Munich was closed on Wednesday after police said they found explosives in a residential building in the city that caught fire and at least killed one person.
Special forces were investigating an area in the north of Munich earlier today, where the Bild newspaper and multiple other reports said shots and explosions had been heard.
City officials said there had been a bomb threat issued by the suspected perpetrator of the explosion early on Wednesday. Munich police said the explosion was part of a domestic dispute, and that the residential building had been “deliberately set on fire”.
Authorities found “explosive traps” in a house and had to call in special forces to defuse them, Munich police said on X.
An unidentified person was found seriously injured near the scene of the fire at Lerchenau Lake. Police later reported that they had died, and that another person was missing. It was not immediately clear whether the deceased person was the suspected perpetrator or someone else.
Munich mayor Dieter Reiter said the closure of the festival followed “a perpetrator threatening the Oktoberfest”.
“The police will do everything to have the entire Wiesn searched by 5 p.m. this afternoon, if possible, to ensure safety,” he wrote on Instagram. “If that’s not the case, I’ll get in touch again, and then the Wiesn won’t open at all today.”
Police searched the Oktoberfest fairgrounds for other explosive devices and asked workers to leave the area.
A loudspeaker blared a warning to festival-goers arriving early this morning, citing a “bomb threat”, FAZ reports.
Police confirmed just after 7am on Wednesday morning that authorities were initially responding to an incident “due to a burning residential building”.
“Loud banging noises were heard” and an injured person was found who, they said, “might be connected to the incident”.
Oktoberfest is the world’s largest beer festival and usually attracts up to six million visitors.
This year’s festival began on 20 September and ends on 5 October.
Reuters reported that the fairground was expected to remain shut until 5pm local time (3pm GMT) after police discovered explosives in a residential building.
