Part of an apartment complex in Rotterdam which was destroyed in an apparent gas explosion earlier this week has not yet been properly searched for the bodies of three missing people because the building is unsafe.

Family members of the missing men have twice entered the premises in an attempt to find their relatives and, according to some reports, found some human remains. But police now say the building will be demolished “as safely as possible” to find the three victims.

The most important thing, police said, is to give clarity to the relatives of those who are missing. “But it is important that emergency service workers can do their job as safely as possible,” a spokesman told NOS.

The relatives, however, say they want their missing family members to be found as soon as possible, and a group have been gathered near the fences now protecting the location for much of the day, the AD reported.

“We waited yesterday, we respect the emergency services, but we want to wash and bury him in line with Islamic ways” one relative told the paper. “If royalty were lying here, you would dig day and night. We were born here. We want respect and help.”

The cause of the explosion has not yet been established, but it took place in a garage underneath part of the complex where there were apartments. Seven homes have now been declared uninhabitable.