All survivors rescued After hotel collapse in Germany, recovery of another dead person is planned
Major accident in the small vacation resort of Kröv in Germany: a hotel collapses and two people die. The last survivor is rescued after almost 24 hours. The second victim has yet to be rescued.
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- A hotel in the wine village of Kröv in Rhineland-Palatinate partially collapsed on Wednesday night.
- Two people died in the accident and several people were trapped in the rubble, some for hours.
- Late on Wednesday evening, the emergency services rescued the last surviving woman from the hotel.
- While the body of a woman was recovered late Wednesday afternoon, a man is still lying in the rubble.
- According to the police, a rescue on Wednesday evening was too dangerous.
Following the collapse of a hotel in the wine village of Kröv in Rhineland-Palatinate, rescue work and the search for the cause of the accident are continuing. Two people died in the accident and several people were trapped in the rubble, some of them for hours.
Rescue workers spent hours on Wednesday trying to free the survivors from the house - including a two-year-old child and his parents from the Netherlands. The first fatality was also rescued. Late in the evening, the emergency services finally rescued the last surviving woman from the hotel. She was carried out of the building to applause.
The two deceased were a woman born in 1961 and a man, both of German nationality, said the fire and disaster control inspector for the Bernkastel-Wittlich district, Jörg Teusch. While the woman's body was recovered late Wednesday afternoon, the man is still lying in the rubble. According to the police, a rescue in the evening was too dangerous. The dead man is believed to be the hotel owner.
View of the accident: An aerial view shows the partially collapsed hotel in Kröv.
Image: dpa
The Minister President of Rhineland-Palatinate Alexander Schweitzer (left) visited the scene of the accident on Wednesday.
Image: dpa
The rescue operation was extremely difficult right from the start.
Image: dpa
Emergency services rescue the last survivor late on Wednesday evening.
Image: dpa
View of the accident: An aerial view shows the partially collapsed hotel in Kröv.
Image: dpa
The Minister President of Rhineland-Palatinate Alexander Schweitzer (left) visited the scene of the accident on Wednesday.
Image: dpa
The rescue operation was extremely difficult right from the start.
Image: dpa
Emergency services rescue the last survivor late on Wednesday evening.
Image: dpa
Over several hours and with heavy equipment, the rescuers tried to gain access to the hotel, which was ultimately successful, said Teusch. They were able to make contact with the buried victims by drilling holes using directional microphones. In the evening, air was pumped into the building via orange pipes.
Collapse during the night
Parts of the hotel collapsed at around 11 p.m. on Tuesday. According to the police, local residents called the emergency services. "When the first forces arrived, it turned out that an entire floor of this building structure had collapsed and both ceilings were basically on top of each other," said Teusch. There were 14 people in the hotel at the time of the collapse. Five were rescued relatively quickly because they were in "uninvolved parts of the building", explained Teusch. Nine other people were initially trapped under the rubble.
Cause unclear
Teusch said about the collapsed floor that the basic structure of the building was probably from the 17th century. "Another two and a half storeys were added to the first floor around 1980." The front building of the collapsed hotel has been a cultural monument since 2008. According to the police, the cause of the accident is still completely unclear. An expert is to be commissioned, according to Peter Fritzen, the senior public prosecutor in Trier.
Prime Minister visits the site of the accident
"This is an unusual accident for Rhineland-Palatinate", said Alexander Schweitzer (SPD), Minister President of Rhineland-Palatinate, after visiting the site of the accident. "The fact that a house collapses like this and that a hotel in the middle of a wonderful tourist region collapses is something that fortunately has not become a common occurrence in recent years and must not become one."
German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) also commented on the tragic accident: "My sympathies and thoughts go out to the families of those killed. We very much hope that the seriously injured will recover from their injuries." She expressed special thanks to the German Federal Agency for Technical Relief, which supported the emergency services on site with around 100 helpers during the rescue operations and closely monitored that no further parts of the building collapsed.
Moselle resort a popular vacation destination
The building's neighbors were also affected by the disaster: 21 people had to leave their homes, according to the press center. They have since been able to return to their homes. Apart from the hotel, no other buildings were damaged, it was reported.
Kröv is a small town on the Moselle in Rhineland-Palatinate with around 2,300 inhabitants. The wine village is a popular destination for tourists, including those from abroad, due to its location between the vineyards and the Moselle. The collapsed hotel is only around 150 meters from the banks of the Moselle. According to the website, there are 16 rooms and a restaurant.