Two building workers killed in stairwell collapse at German school site

Two construction workers were killed and two others were injured on Thursday when prefabricated concrete stairway sections collapsed onto them at a school building site in Gronau, in western Germany's Münsterland region, police said.

The accident happened at around midday as workers used a crane to lift and install precast stairway flights inside a large shaft in the unfinished building, a police spokesperson said. Sections for several storeys had already been installed when the structure suddenly came down, crushing the two men underneath, police said. It remains unclear whether a stairway part fell from the crane or the assembled structure itself collapsed.

The two injured workers were taken to hospital; officials said their injuries were not life-threatening. Fifteen people were working on the site at the time of the accident; the other eleven tradespeople were unhurt and were given support by emergency chaplains, the city of Gronau said.

The emergency response involved about 35 firefighters, a doctor, three ambulance crews, police officers, two specialists from the Technical Relief Agency and the crew of a rescue helicopter, the city said. A nearby road was closed off for the operation. Police and Germany's labour-safety authority have opened investigations into the cause.

The site is an extension of the Werner-von-Siemens-Gymnasium, a secondary school that was empty because of the autumn half-term holiday, meaning no pupils or teachers were present. The affected shaft was part of the new wing under construction, separate from the existing school buildings, which were not structurally affected, officials said. Police have since cleared the school for lessons to resume as normal on Monday.

Gronau's mayor, Jörg von Borczyskowski, said his sympathy was with the families of the dead and praised the coordination among the emergency services at the scene.