Fire department spokesman Daniel Leupold said rescue officials found several lightly injured people at the scene, and it was likely that there were some people inside — though it was unclear how many. The building was open to the public at the time of the collapse.
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About 180 firefighters were sent to the scene.
A photograph on German television showed the building reduced to a pile of rubble.
Police spokesman Wolfgang Baldes said the rubble spilled out over 50 to 70 yards (meters).
Alfred Hoovestedt, who works in a building nearby, told n-tv television that he was sitting with colleagues when "suddenly there was a rumbling, as if a train were going past."
"Then the noise got louder and louder, and we heard vibration," he said. "Then, in seconds, the whole area was covered in a haze."
http://blog.gerhards.net/2009/03/cologne-municipal-archive-collapsed.html