NACHTERSTEDT, Germany (July 18) - 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.
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The destroyed building, half of a pair of attached houses, slipped down about 100 yards 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 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.
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