The case in summary • A 41-year-old man from Grenland was reported missing in June, but the last confirmed sighting was in the center of Porsgrunn on March 16, the same day that Meierigården burned down.• The police are working on a hypothesis that the missing person may be among the ruins of Meierigården.• Fire technicians have visited the site of the fire, but have postponed the search until next week for safety reasons.• The police are not investigating a criminal offence, but are looking for a missing person, and have no suspicion that the fire was set.• The demolition work of The dairy farm is delayed due to the police search.• Only the police have the opportunity to enter the plot until further notice. The summary is made by an AI service from OpenAi. The content is quality assured by news’s journalists before publication. The police are now working on a hypothesis that the missing person, a 41-year-old man from Grenland, may be lying in the ruins at the site. The last confirmed sighting of the man was in Porsgrunn on 16 March this year. The same evening, the old dairy farm in the center of the town was completely damaged in a violent fire. Varden mentioned the case first. Fire technicians on site On Tuesday, fire technicians were inspecting the fire site. However, they have postponed the actual search until Monday next week. This is for security reasons. The technicians have previously searched the scene of the fire with a drone, without this having yielded results. The reason why the police are only searching the scene of the fire now is that the man was first registered as formally missing on 26 June this year. – It was only when the police started searching for the man, Annie Sandersen tells news. She is section leader for investigation and intelligence at Grenland police station. Annie Sandersen, section leader for investigation and intelligence at Grenland police station. Photo: Theodor Aasland Valen / news – We are not investigating a criminal offence, but looking for a missing person. We have no suspicion that the fire was set, she emphasizes. – Why didn’t the search at Meierigården start earlier? – Because it is natural for us in such a case to check out other things first. It concerns, among other things, the questioning of witnesses from people who know him. We check out addresses, contact the bank, the healthcare system and so on. Sandersen does not want to release much information about the missing person, beyond the fact that the man is known to the police from before. The fire site in the center of Porsgrunn. Photo: Nils Fridtjof Skumsvoll She also emphasizes that the search at Meierigården is one of several investigative steps. – We are not at all sure that the person is there, but have to check out the hypothesis. Demolition delayed The dairy farm was completely damaged in the fire, which therefore started on 16 March this year. According to the plan, the demolition work was to start in full this week, but the police search is delaying the process. Parts of the ruins must be transported to another location for further investigation by the police. The search means that the demolition must be carried out far more carefully than planned, says Ole Henrik Lia, head of department for construction and property management in Porsgrunn municipality. Ole Henrik Lia, head of department at construction and property management in Porsgrunn municipality. Photo: Øystein Økter / news – It obviously takes longer. Had we not had this situation, we would have demolished in a different way. Then we would have demolished much more efficiently, he says. Only the police are now allowed to enter the site for the time being, but minor work is being carried out next to the ruin itself.
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