The suspects are thought to have set fire to a garbage container with cardboard boxes and empty crates in the basement of the hotel, newly opened a few months ago. The two men were filmed as a part of the hotel's surveillance system at about 1 a.m., which was at around the time the crime was committed. Firefighters were able to put out the fire before it spread to other rooms of the hotel. While the firefighters were extinguishing the fire, police asked the guests and hotel staff to leave the building. Nobody was injured.

Because the fire doors in the basement were open when the fire brigade arrived, police suspect arson.

Whether there is a connection between this fire and a series of fires on the night of April 25 in Bonn inner city and the north of Bonn, police cannot yet say. "We are basically investigating connections to similar incidents. No concrete connections have emerged in this incident so far," police spokesman Simon Rott said in response to a GA inquiry on Tuesday. The fires that took place on April 25 all broke out within a few hours at various locations in the inner city and in the northern part of the city.

There was one fire between 2 am and 4 am in an empty shop on Bonngasse as well as in the basement of a house on Wachsbleiche. There were also containers in flames on Römerstraße and Florentiusgraben. The police did not rule out arson because of the short intervals between the fires and the confined space of the fires.

Anyone who can provide information on the identity of the suspects is asked to contact the Criminal Investigation Department 11 at 02 28/15-0.

(Orig. Text: Lisa Inhoffen, Translation: ck)