Rescuers continued searching late Tuesday for three people still missing after a residential building collapsed in the eastern German city of Görlitz, as authorities investigated a possible gas explosion as the cause.
Emergency services estimate that the three people believed to be trapped beneath the rubble may have a survival window of up to 72 hours. By Tuesday evening, more than 24 hours had passed since the collapse.
A police spokeswoman said that two of the five people initially reported missing were located shortly after midnight and were unharmed.
The multi-storey building collapsed on Monday evening near the railway station in Görlitz, which is located close to the Polish border.
Police said specially trained dogs have been deployed in the search for the three people believed to have been inside the building when it collapsed.
“We haven’t found anyone yet,” Anja Weigel, head of the local fire service, said.
Romanians among missing
As a gas explosion is suspected, rescue crews are proceeding cautiously. Excavators and a crane were brought in on Tuesday to remove larger sections of rubble.
Rescue teams from Germany and Poland, including volunteers, are also working their way through the mountain of debris with shovels and some with their bare hands.
The work is set to continue into the second night following the collapse.
According to police, the collapsed building contained rental and holiday flats.
The missing are two Romanian female tourists aged 25 and 26 and a 48-year-old man with Bulgarian-German nationality who had been in Görlitz on business.
The exact cause of the accident has not yet been determined.
Rescue efforts were further complicated on Tuesday evening by concerns that gas could still be leaking from beneath the rubble. Authorities warned that gas trapped in cavities posed a major risk to emergency crews.
Residents described hearing a powerful explosion before the building collapsed. “It was like a bomb,” Kerstin Wauer said, describing how smoke poured into her nearby apartment.
Another eyewitness said the impact was so strong that he feared neighbouring buildings might also collapse. “As a trained plumber, I immediately thought of a gas explosion," he said.
Görlitz, Germany’s easternmost city, has a population of around 57,000. Since 1998, it has formed a cross-border European city with the neighbouring Polish town of Zgorzelec.
Its well-preserved historic old town has also made Görlitz a popular location for international film productions.
