4 Mar 2009

Archive building collapses in Cologne

12:20 pm on 4 March 2009

At least three people are missing, feared dead, after an archive building collapsed in the German city of Cologne on Tuesday.

Nine people were intitially reported missing but six have contacted authorities to say they were safe.

Nearby buildings were evacuated and two were partly brought down by the collapse.

German media reported the collapse of the 1970s building may have been set off by work on an underground train line.

The building was one of the biggest archives of its kind in Germany.

Among its 65,000 documents were some dating back more than 1000 years. The archive also housed half a million photos chronicling life in Cologne.