Berlin:
Rescue teams were Wednesday working to free people trapped after part of a hotel collapsed in western Germany, killing two and injuring several others, authorities said.
A floor in the hotel in Kroev, a town some 110 kilometres (68 miles) west of Frankfurt, collapsed for unknown reasons around 11:00 pm (2100 GMT) on Tuesday, police said in a statement.
A woman and a man were killed in the accident, police spokesman Joerg Teusch told journalists on Wednesday.
Of the 14 people inside at the time, five managed to get out.
Emergency services rescued one man, a child and two women on Wednesday morning.
“We were able to make contact with the seven people buried and four of them were rescued with minor injuries, so it’s a miracle,” Teusch said.
Three people remain trapped under the rubble, he said, and are “probably seriously injured”.
The rescue operation was difficult “as the building could only be entered… with the utmost caution”, police said.
Thirty-one residents from the local neighbourhood were evacuated and some 250 search-and-rescue staff were working at the site.
Dutch media reported that a Dutch family of three was among those caught up in the incident.
The mother and child had been pulled out alive but the father was still trapped, Dutch national news agency ANP said.
The family were reportedly from Urk, a small fishing town in the north of the Netherlands.
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