At least 54 people have been injured following the collapse of a multi-family residential building in the center of Görlitz, Germany.
Operative Information Center-OMM reports, citing MDR, that emergency services are currently conducting a large-scale search and rescue operation at the site.
Police authorities have confirmed they are searching for three individuals who remain unaccounted for. The missing persons include two Romanian tourists and a man with dual German and Bulgarian citizenship who was in the city for work. While initial reports suggested five people were missing, it was later determined that two of them were not in the building at the time of the collapse and are now confirmed safe.
The incident occurred on May 18, when the early 20th-century structure located on James von Moltke Street suddenly collapsed. Preliminary investigations suggest that a gas explosion may have been the primary cause of the disaster. The building, which had been renovated only a few years ago, housed both rental apartments and holiday homes. Rescue teams are utilizing search dogs and thermal imaging cameras to locate survivors beneath the debris, though no signals have been detected thus far.
Görlitz, located in the state of Saxony on the border with Poland, is renowned for its well-preserved historic architecture, spanning various eras from the Renaissance to the Wilhelminian period. Such incidents involving historic infrastructure often necessitate complex recovery efforts due to the structural integrity of neighboring heritage buildings. Local authorities in Germany have cordoned off the surrounding area as engineers assess the stability of adjacent structures to prevent further casualties.
