A man from the northern Swiss town of Brugg has died after being beaten up by a young Austrian in a McDonald's in the tourist heart of Munich, Germany.

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Swiss man killed in Munich McDonald’s

A man from the northern Swiss town of Brugg has died after being beaten up by a young Austrian in a McDonald's in the tourist heart of Munich, Germany.

Published: 1 August 2011 15:10 CEST

A fight broke out between the two men at 3am on Saturday morning in the fast-food restaurant on Stachus-Platz, close to Munich’s old town centre.

According to a report in Swiss newspaper Blick, the 41-year-old Giacomo A. was seriously injured after he fell to the floor. He was taken unconscious to a nearby hospital and underwent an emergency operation, but died of his injuries on Saturday at midday.

Reports say Giacomo A. did not know the unnamed 24-year-old Austrian. But they were sitting at the same table, where he began flirting with the Austrian’s girlfriend.

Witnesses say a fight broke out when the Swiss man bit into the girl’s burger. The Austrian allegedly kicked him several times in the head.

The Stachus-Platz restaurant, which is open 24 hours a day, is one of the biggest and busiest McDonald’s branches in Europe, and is a central meeting place for Munich partygoers.

Giacomo A. was a businessman who had been living in Munich for several years. An autopsy is currently taking place to determine the exact cause of his death, particularly whether the injuries that killed him were inflicted before or in his fall.

The suspected perpetrator was arrested at the scene and questioned by police. He is said to be unemployed and also a long-term Munich resident. Police say he faces charges of bodily harm with lethal consequences.

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Smoke rises after the WWII bomb exploded on a building site in Munich.

Smoke rises after the WWII bomb exploded on a building site in Munich. Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Privat

Construction workers had been drilling into the ground when the bomb exploded, a spokesman for the fire department said in a statement.

The blast was heard several kilometres away and scattered debris hundreds of metres, according to local media reports.

Images showed a plume of smoke rising directly next to the train tracks.

Bavaria interior minister Joachim Herrmann told Bild that the whole area was being searched.

Deutsche Bahn suspended its services on the affected lines in the afternoon.

Although trains started up again from 3pm, the rail operator said there would still be delays and cancellations to long-distance and local travel in the Munich area until evening.

According to the fire service, the explosion happened near a bridge that must be passed by all trains travelling to or from the station.

The exact cause of the explosion is unclear, police said. So far, there are no indications of a criminal act.

WWII bombs are common in Germany

Some 75 years after the war, Germany remains littered with unexploded ordnance, often uncovered during construction work.

READ ALSO: What you need to know about WWII bomb disposals in Germany

However, most bombs are defused by experts before they explode.

Last year, seven World War II bombs were found on the future location of Tesla’s first European factory, just outside Berlin.

Sizeable bombs were also defused in Cologne and Dortmund last year.

In 2017, the discovery of a 1.4-tonne bomb in Frankfurt prompted the evacuation of 65,000 people — the largest such operation since the end of the war in Europe in 1945.

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