Part of a hotel has collapsed in western Germany, killing one person, while eight people are believed to be trapped in the rubble.
A floor in a hotel in Kroev, a winemaking town on the Mosselle River some 110 kilometres (68 miles) west of Frankfurt, collapsed at around 11:00 pm on Tuesday, police said in a statement.
Of the 14 people inside at the time, five managed to get out unhurt.
Of the eight who were trapped ‘some were seriously injured’, with firefighters having established contact with some of them, police said.
Authorities said that one of the people trapped was a child, who was physically unhurt and in contact with emergency workers.
Part of a hotel in Kroev, Western Germany has collapsed, killing one person and leaving eight trapped in the rubble
Emergency services tend to a woman who had been in the hotel when part of it collapsed on Tuesday night
Footage and images showed the building’s gable roof slanted backwards and parts of the ground floor crushed as emergency services tended to the victims.
In one clip, a woman is carried out of the building by an emergency worker, while another snippet shows a small baby being taken out of the damaged hotel building.
According to regional broadcaster SWR, witnesses reported hearing a bang and seeing a large cloud of dust at the time of the 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 it was ‘an extremely demanding deployment, because emergency personnel can only enter the building with the greatest caution’.
Emergency services at the scene of the collapse, in Korev, a winemaking town on the Mosselle river, Western Germany
14 people are said to have been in the hotel when the building collapsed
Authorities have reportedly evacuated 31 people from the area around the damaged building
By early Wednesday morning, police said emergency services had established contact with the eight people trapped
They said that 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.
The Moselle region attracts tourists for its picturesque towns and vineyards on steep river banks.
This is a breaking story, more to follow.