BERLIN (AP) – Police in western Germany raided offices and homes yesterday in connection with the floods last summer in which more than 180 people died and hundreds more were injured.
The public prosecutor’s office in Cologne coordinated the searches that were executed by 140 police officers and involved more than 20 offices and homes, German news agency dpa reported.
Investigations were allegedly focussing on the the owner and lessor of an opencast mine in Erftstadt, near the city of Cologne, as well as five people of the operating company and four people with the regional district council, dpa reported. The suspects’ names were not given in line with German privacy policies.
During the July floods, the grounds near a gravel pit on the River Erft slipped away after heavy rain had flooded the pit. Several buildings were subsequently swept away, but nobody was killed.
