BAD REICHENHALL, Germany, Jan. 2 (UPI) -- The death toll in a roof collapse at a German skating rink rose to 11 Monday night when one victim died in a hospital and rescuers saw more bodies.
Five bodies, including one child, had already been found, the BBC said.
Police said more than 30 people were pulled alive from the ruins of the building in Bad Reichenhall, a resort in the Bavarian Alps 6 miles from Salzburg, Austria. Around 50 people were believed to have been in the building.
Heavy snow on the roof may have caused the collapse, which occurred just before 4 p.m., the rink's scheduled closing time.
Hundreds of firefighters, police officers and other emergency workers surrounded the rink. The risk of additional collapse because of heavy snow on the roof made reaching victims difficult
Workers were using a crane to remove the roof and dogs were on the scene to hunt for living victims and bodies.
Jan. 3 (Bloomberg) -- At least 11 people were killed and 34 injured when the snow-covered roof of a hall housing an ice rink collapsed in the southern German town of Bad Reichenhall.
Rescuers had to call of their search for the four people that are still missing on concern remaining parts of the building may collapse, Hubertus Andrae, a police officer leading the rescue efforts, said at a televised news conference. Workers are trying to stabilize the building and plan to continue the rescue at about 6 p.m. German time, he said.
The roof of the hall, which was built in the 1970s, collapsed at about 4 p.m. local time yesterday while about 50 people were visiting the facility, district spokesman Christoph Abress said. Local police and the state prosecutor have started investigating the cause of the collapse, he said.
``We know it's a race against time but we won't give up hope until all the missing are found and recovered,'' German Chancellor Angela Merkel told reporters in Berlin. ``Our compassion and sympathy in this hour are with the relatives of the victims. I want to offer my deepest condolences to them, also in the name of the federal government.''
The temperature was above freezing at the time of the collapse, producing wet and heavy snow, Gerhard Lux, spokesman for Germany's national weather service, Deutscher Wetterdienst, said in a telephone interview from Frankfurt.
The liquid content of snow varies from about 15 percent water in powder snow to 60 percent in sleet, he said. The more water, the heavier the snow becomes because it encloses less air. Lux declined to comment on whether the snow type may have played a part in the collapse of the roof.
Two more bodies were found today after nine were discovered yesterday, Andrae said. All 11 killed people were German citizens, he said. Out of the 34 injured people, 18 had to be treated in regional hospitals.
Among the dead, who came from the Alpine region near the border with Austria, are six children between 9 and 12 years old, police spokesman Peter Huber said in a telephone interview today.
Rescue teams are using six cranes to prevent remaining parts of the roof from collapsing, according to Stefan Neiber, another district spokesman. About 350 rescue workers are at the site and continued snowfall is also hampering the operation, he said.
City officials assessed the weight of the snow on the roof on the day of the collapse and decided to close the ice rink for further events after opening hours for the public ended at 4 p.m., Bad Reichenhall Mayor Wolfgang Heitmeier said.
Bavarian Prime Minister Edmund Stoiber visited the site after the collapse and said the whole country was ``deeply shocked'' by the incident.
Reichenhall has about 16,785 inhabitants and is in the Berchtesgaden region of Bavaria. The sports hall in the city houses an ice rink used for hockey and ice skating as well as a swimming pool and a restaurant, according to the town Web site. The ice rink is owned by the city, Neiber said. The city spokesman wasn't available for comment.