A hotel in Germany's picturesque Moselle wine valley collapsed overnight, killing two people, local police said Wednesday, as rescuers worked urgently to extract the two remaining guests who were trapped in the rubble.
The body of a woman has been recovered, but emergency services have not yet been able to reach the body of the second victim, the head of the rescue operation, a man, Joerg Teusch, told reporters.
“Five people have been rescued, none seriously injured,” Teusch said, in a complex operation as the two-storey building was unstable after its top floor collapsed on Tuesday night.
The two people still trapped in the building, built in the 17th century and renovated in the 1980s, have serious injuries but are in contact with rescuers, police said.
Among those rescued were a two-year-old boy, who was unharmed, and his parents, with whom rescuers were able to establish contact during the night.
“I've never been so happy to see a stranger's child,” Teusch said, describing the tearful moment when his team pulled the boy from the damaged building.
The cause of the accident is still unclear. Investigations will begin once the rescue operation is completed, said state prosecutor Peter Fritzen.
Summer season
Some 250 police officers, firefighters and paramedics were deployed to the scene of the accident in the town of Kroev, a popular resort town surrounded by the steep, vineyard-covered banks of the Moselle River.
Emergency services used a crane and sniffer dogs to assist in the operation.
The incident occurred during the busy summer season, when the region's historic wine taverns are typically packed with tourists.
The partially collapsed hotel, identified by a Reuters The Reichsschenke, known as “Zum Ritter Goetz”, is named after a medieval knight who is said to have once drank in its wood-panelled tavern and who was immortalised in a work by Wolfgang von Goethe.
Investigators believe there were 14 people in the hotel when the top floor collapsed, five of whom escaped unharmed.
Police also said 21 people in homes near the hotel had to be evacuated, revising the previous figure downwards.
