BERLIN, Jan. 3 (Xinhuanet) -- Rescuers had to stop their search for bodies Tuesday in the wreckage of an indoor ice rink in southeast Germany amid fears that a wall might collapse on emergency workers, German media reported.

Rescuers work at the collapsed ice skating rink in Bad Reichenhall, southern Germany, Jan. 3. (Xinhua)

    A woman and three children aged 12 to 16 were still missing, German news agency DPA quoted local police chief Hubertus Andrae as saying. Eleven bodies were recovered from the wreckage of the building, which collapsed Monday afternoon.

    The eleven killed included six children, while the missing were feared dead as temperatures were below zero and more than 24 hours passed.

    County chief Georg Grabner said the recovery efforts would resume when a specialized salvage company arrived later Tuesday with a crane that could remove the wooden roof beams of the structure one by one.

    The disaster occurred in the southeast German town of Bad Reichenhall, near the German-Austrian border.

    Some 35 people were pulled alive from the rubble with moderate to severe injuries, police said. They were flown by helicopter to hospitals in the Austrian city of Salzburg, only 10 km away.

    Some 500 firefighters, police and rescue personnel from Germany and neighboring Austria had worked with shovels and their hands on Tuesday.

    Heavy snow hampered rescue efforts and delayed the arrival of heavy equipment and a crane to lift the collapsed 60-meter-long roof, the DPA reported, adding six cranes had worked overnight to prevent any further collapse.

    The disaster was reportedly attributed to the mass of snow on the roof, but city officials said the load limit on the roof was measured to be under the threshold. Enditem

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