One person has been seriously hurt and five homes in a terraced block in Purmerend have been badly damaged in an explosion and fire at one of the properties.

Five people were checked at the scene by ambulance staff and a sixth person was taken to hospital with serious injuries, police said on Sunday morning. According to the Telegraaf, the victim is a young man who was well-liked locally.

Police say they consider the explosion may have been caused deliberately. A gas leak has been ruled out because most of the properties in the row are gas-free.

The explosion took place at around 4.15 am, and the fire which had been caused by the blast spread into two other houses. All but one in the six property block has been left uninhabitable.

“I was in bed and had woken up and was just drifting back to sleep when I heard an enormous bang,” one man told regional broadcaster NH. Another woman said her whole house shook in the blast.

Last weekend six people were killed and four injured in an explosion at an apartment complex in The Hague, which police now say was probably targeting a bridal shop.

The police said earlier they expect the Netherlands will have been rocked by around 1,000 firework bomb attacks this year, most of which cause minor damage.