Amsterdam residents look at the burnt-out tower of the Vondelkerk on New Year's Eve. Photo: Laurens Niezen/Anp/AFP/TT
A major fire broke out around midnight on New Year's Eve in the 19th-century Vondelkerk church in central Amsterdam.
The 50-meter-high tower has collapsed and the roof has been severely damaged. Residents near the 154-year-old church have had to be evacuated.
The cause of the fire in the tourist attraction has not been determined, but Dutch authorities are reporting a generally chaotic New Year's celebration.
Shortly after midnight, a nationwide warning went out on mobile phones advising people not to call overwhelmed emergency services unless their lives were in danger.
Several incidents of attacks on police and firefighters have been reported, and two people, a 17-year-old boy and a 38-year-old man, have been killed in fireworks accidents.
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