Two died in German hotel collapse - "remarkable" survival rate given extent of damage
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In the winemaking town of Kröv on the Mosel River in western Germany, a section of a 300 year old hotel had a structural collapse late Tuesday night, resulting in the deaths of two people and leaving seven others trapped beneath the rubble.
It wasn't until nearly 24 hours later, on Wednesday night, that the last survivor was finally pulled from the wreckage.
The rescue operation involved 250 emergency workers, including drone specialists and rescue dogs, according to FireEngineering.com.
Rescue workers said at a press conference late Wednesday morning that a woman in her 60s and a man whose body had not been recovered were killed in the collapse, DW.com reports.
The hotel had 14 occupants at the time of the collapse, which occurred around 11 p.m. While five people managed to escape unharmed, as they were in a portion of the building that remained intact, the others found themselves buried under the debris, the BBC reports.
As reported by local broadcaster SWR, the damaged building in western Germany is frm the the 1600s. It was renovated in the 1980s, when an additional floor was added.
Michael Ebling, Rhineland-Palatinate’s top security official, commented on the incident, noting that the number of survivors was remarkable given the extensive damage to the building.
Rescue teams faced a difficult task. Although they could reach some of the trapped individuals by cellphone, physically accessing them was a challenge.
The situation was so difficult that traditional entry points, like stairs, doors, and windows, were no longer an option for the rescuers.
The collapse had caused two ceilings to collapse onto one another, creating a precarious situation described by Joerg Teusch, the fire and disaster protection inspector for the Bernkastel-Wittlich district.
“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,” Teutch explained as rescuers searched through the wreckage on Wednesday morning.
Photo Credit: Wikipedia Commons License.
Kröv, Germany
Date: Taken on 11 July 2015
Source:https://web.archive.org/web/20161102063238/http://www.panoramio.com/photo/122356249
Author: Foto Fitti