KROEV, Germany: Two people were killed when a hotel in Germany's scenic Mosel wine valley collapsed overnight, local police said Wednesday, as rescuers worked quickly to pull three remaining guests from the wreckage.
The body of a woman was found but emergency rescuers have not yet reached the body of the second male victim, said chief of rescue operations Joerg Teuch.
Four people have been rescued, none of them seriously injured, Teuch said, adding that the complex is operating as the two-story building became unstable after it caved in late Tuesday.
Among those rescued were a two-year-old boy, who was not injured, and the child's parents, with whom rescuers were able to establish contact throughout the night.
Interior Minister Michael Ebling of the state of Rhineland-Palatinate said he was optimistic that the remaining three would be rescued as rescuers were working with extreme caution due to the risk of further collapse.
The cause of the accident has not yet been revealed. An investigation will begin after the rescue operation is completed, state prosecutor Peter Fritzen said.
summer season
Around 250 police officers, firefighters and paramedics were deployed to the site in Croeven, a popular holiday town surrounded by steep, vineyard-covered banks of the River Moselle.
Emergency services used cranes and sniffer dogs to assist the operation.
The event comes during the busy summer season, when the region's historic wine taverns are often filled with tourists.
The partially destroyed hotel – identified by a Reuters witness as Reichschenke “Zum Ritter Goetz” – is named after a medieval knight who is said to have once drunk in its wood-panelled tavern and was immortalized in a play by Wolfgang von Goethe. .
Investigators believe 14 people were in the hotel when the upper floors caved in, five of whom were uninjured.
The police said that 31 people were evacuated from nearby houses for their own safety.
