Two people died, and several others were injured when part of a tourist hotel collapsed in Germany’s iconic Moselle wine valley on the Mosel River, a region that is known for attracting tourists from across the globe.
On Tuesday, August 6, fourteen people were present in the hotel when one of its floors collapsed, leading to a chaotic scene in the area around 11 pm local time.
According to the police, five people managed to get out of the hotel unharmed as they were not present in the damaged part of the hotel, but the rest of them were trapped in the wreckage.
The disaster protection inspector of the Bernkastel-Wittlich district, Joerg Teusch, stated that the operation is underway to rescue the trapped people, who are difficult to access as they are present within the ceilings of the two floors of the hotel.
The inspector also suggested that the hotel has a fragile structure, which means that they have to take every step with extreme caution, or the whole building could collapse like the “house of cards.”
A Dutch woman and her 2-year-old kid are the two people being rescued from the building, while the father of the child is still trapped in the rubble.
Teusch also stated that the rescue team initially realized that they would not be able to bring anyone alive out of the building due to its brittle nature. Rescuing people in this specific case is proving to be a difficult job due to the lack of stairs, windows, or doors, all of which have been demolished, Teusch added.
Nearly 250 rescue workers are currently involved in the operation, using advanced drones and even rescue dogs. The exact reason for the collapse remains unknown, but eyewitnesses argued that they just heard a loud noise and saw the dust in the air as the building collapsed.
Right after the incident, 31 people living around the hotel were shifted to safer places, but the exact condition of people buried inside the rubble remains unknown as rescue workers race against time to bring them out of trouble before it’s too late.
