400-Year-Old German Hotel Collapses... 2 Dead

Building Constructed in the 17th Century Mosel Wine Region
Second Floor Added in the 1980s, Over 300 Years Later

A 17th-century hotel building located in a small town in western Germany collapsed, resulting in two deaths.

According to foreign media including the AP News on the 7th (local time), a part of the three-story hotel building in Kr?v, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, collapsed around 11 p.m. the previous day.

Collapsed German hotel. [Image source=Yonhap News]

Of the 14 people staying at the hotel at the time of the accident, five escaped the building on their own, but the rest were buried under the debris. Six of them were rescued, but two eventually died. Local fire authorities confirmed that one woman is still alive and remains inside the building debris, and rescue operations are ongoing.

J?rg Teusch, the local disaster protection officer, explained to the media, "The building structure is like a house of cards. If you remove the wrong card, the entire building collapses," describing the difficulty of the rescue operation.

Moreover, the building remains in a dangerous condition. Although no additional collapses have been discovered yet, the structure is moving at a rate of 4 mm per hour, making it difficult to enter prematurely.

Authorities also evacuated 31 residents near the collapsed hotel to a safe area.

Meanwhile, this area is a village formed along the banks of the Mosel River in Germany and is still the center of Mosel wine production. The hotel building was constructed in the 1600s but had two upper floors added in the 1980s, about 300 years later.