TWO PEOPLE HAVE died and several others were left trapped after part of a hotel collapsed in a wine-making town on the Mosel River in western Germany.
Fourteen people were in the hotel in Kroev when one storey of the building collapsed at about 11pm local time on Tuesday (10pm Irish time).
Police said five people were able to get out of the building unhurt, but others were left trapped. Efforts to rescue them are ongoing.
This is proving to be difficult, because the collapse of one storey left two ceilings lying on top of each other, according to Bernkastel-Wittlich district fire and rescue chief Joerg Teusch.
He said at a news conference that two people had died. The cause of the structural collapse has not yet been determined.
Regional public broadcaster SWR said witnesses reported hearing a bang and seeing a large cloud of dust at the time of the collapse.
Teusch said: “There was no option (to use) stairs, house entrances, doors or windows, because they were simply no longer there.
“We have to proceed with caution because the entire building structure is like a house of cards. If we pull on the wrong card, this building is sure to collapse.”
Authorities evacuated 31 people from the area immediately around the damaged building. There was no immediate word on what caused the collapse.
Police said some 250 emergency workers, including drone specialists, were at the scene, as well as rescue dogs.
Kroev is on a picturesque section of the Mosel near the larger resort town of Traben-Trarbach. It has about 2,200 inhabitants.
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