Authorities are investigating whether freezing temperatures contributed to the rock breaking off from the cliff
The ruins of the house were covered by a snowfall the day after the tragedy.Authorities are investigating whether freezing temperatures contributed to the rock breaking off from the cliff
More than 250 police and rescue workers with sniffer dogs were involved in the search for survivors
In freezing conditions, rescue workers search among the debris of the demolished home in Stein an der Traun, southern Germany, after a 50-ton boulder fell on it on Monday night
The house had been built up against the cliff face and from here the vast size of the rockfall can be seen
A father and his 18-year-old daughter were killed today when a 50-ton boulder broke off a cliff and landed on top of their home, police said.
Two more people - the man's wife and their 16-year-old son - were pulled from the rubble of the house in Germany by rescuers. They were both described as seriously injured.
The family had been sitting inside watching television, the police said. Local reports claimed the boulder had weighed 50 tons.
Neighbours said they heard a 'terrible explosion' and when they rushed from their houses, dust was rising from the ruins of the house.
Up to 250 police and rescue officers with sniffer dogs were involved in the search among the rubble for survivors.
A Red Cross official said that rescuers worked desperately overnight in freezing weather to pull the survivors from the wreckage.
'We made contact with them early on and kept talking with them through the night as we pulled away at the debris,' the official was quoted as saying.
Police described the rock as the size of a small house.
It was not clear what had caused it to fall. Authorities are now investigating whether the freezing conditions that currently grip the country had managed to fracture the cliff face.
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