Mudslide Swallows House In Germany, 3 Missing

NACHTERSTEDT, Germany — A mudslide undermined a house and buried it in a crater along a lake shore in central Germany on Saturday. Three people who lived in it were missing.

"It is too dangerous to search for the missing persons, the hillside is still moving," local fire department spokesman Christoph Voigt said in the town of Nachterstedt.

The destroyed building, half of a pair of attached houses, slipped down about 100 yards (100 meters) to nearby Lake Concordia and was buried under mud and water.

"Everything must have happened within a few seconds," said county official Ulrich Reder.

Authorities confirmed that a 48-year-old woman and two men, 50 and 51 years old, were missing. They lived in the collapsed building and were probably asleep at the time of the accident.

Officials said they were still trying to find out if a fourth person was also missing.

The residents of the other side of the pair of houses, which was damaged, were on vacation, Ursula Rothe, a county spokeswoman said.

Rothe said a 350-yard (350-meter) section of the lakeshore broke off, burying part of a street with mud and gravel. The cause for the mudslide was not known.

Police cordoned off the area and 44 residents were taken away.

The lake is a former coal pit that was flooded in 1994.

Comments

[StephBr]

Sure, an American 2 x 4s nailed together house would have survived that.

[wadenelson1]

Homeonwer; on the toilet: HEY! I CAN SEE RUSSIA FROM HERE!

[Mort]

Not in the news... the same thing happened in Utah but it wasn't a sinkhole. Mud buried the house with a woman and her children inside. They're still trying to dig and find the bodies.

[51tiggy]

Dreadful way to go. Prayers and hopeful thoughts

[audadvnc]

I've seen houses fall into sinkholes before. One day you're on level ground, the next day the house is 60 feet down.

[lessbs]

German engineering

[hulagirrrl]

EAST German engineering. The eastern part of Germany has thousands of these former coal pits that are flooded, made into lakes and people built houses around them.

[jennytaylia]

Where's the ShamWow! guy when ya need him??

[MurrayAbraham]

American commenting.

[StephBr]

Sure, an American 2 x 4s nailed together house would have survived that.

[lessbs]

It was a soils failure, probably due to saturated conditions at the toe of the slope. The house was constructed too close to the bank--not uncommon in the US where the home owner/builder fights with the building department arguing his right to develop his property as he sees fit. He then expects taxpayers to pick up the bill when this happens.