Rescuers seek missing after German building collapse

Workers tried to stabilise the remains of a collapsed building in the German city of Cologne on Wednesday to resume a search for up to four people feared trapped under the rubble.

The multi-storey building containing thousands of historical records collapsed on Tuesday, injuring at least one person. "According to witness reports, we have to assume that there are still two to four people missing and possibly still underneath the rubble," Gregor Timmer, a spokesman for the city of Cologne, told Reuters Television. "There are reports on two inhabitants of the building next to the archive that collapsed and two people who were inside a car in front of the building at the time of the tragedy."

The historical town archive was one of the biggest of its kind in Germany. It housed many documents by Nobel Prize winning German author Heinrich Boell.

Authorities said on Tuesday workers and visitors to the archive were able to flee in time after the building began making strange sounds before the collapse. Media said the collapse may have been sparked by work on an underground train line, though authorities could not confirm this.

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