FRANKFURT, Aug 7 — Two people were killed by the partial collapse of a hotel in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate, police said at a press conference today, according to the German news agency (dpa).

Previously, police had reported one death.

Three people who are still stuck under the rubble are probably seriously injured, spokesman for the district emergency operations centre, Jörg Teusch, said, adding that rescuing them would be very difficult.

"The entire building structure is like a house of cards.”

He said core drillings were carried out after the partial collapse in order to install directional microphones. These were then used to make contact with the buried victims.

Earlier today, police reported that four people had been rescued, including a two-year-old child, two women and a man. Their condition was initially unclear.

According to the police, one floor of the building in Kröv, a small town on the Moselle river, collapsed at around 11pm yesterday.

Fourteen people were in the hotel at the time, five of whom were able to escape unharmed. A further 31 residents from the immediate neighbourhood had to be evacuated. — Bernama-dpa