Rockslide deaths
January 26, 2010
A massive boulder fell on an occupied family house in southern Germany on Monday evening, killing two people.
The house in the Bavarian town of Stein an der Traun was totally destroyed when the boulder weighing tons suddenly flattened the building.
Four people, a married couple and their 18-year-old daughter and 16-year-old son, were buried in the rubble.
A rescue operation comprising around 200 police, firefighters and a team of sniffer dogs managed to dig a badly injured 40-year-old woman and her son from under the debris, but the father and the daughter died in the accident.
A police spokesperson said that a massive rock had fallen on the house from a height of about 15 meters and completely destroyed the building. The surrounding structures, including a brewery, had been evacuated as there was a danger of a further rockslide.
According to local officials the two survivors of the accident are no longer in a critical condition.
It is not known why the rockslide occurred.
td/afpd/ap
Editor: Kyle James