In Germany, police suspect daughter in mayor-elect stabbing
Police are investigating a 17-year-old girl in the stabbing of her adopted mother who was recently elected as the mayor of Herdecke and found in critical condition on Tuesday.
Emergency services arrived at the home of Iris Stalzer — a member of the center-left Social Democratic Party who was elected mayor in late September — after her daughter called for help. Stalzer was found on her living room chair with multiple stab wounds to her chest and abdomen, and was immediately transported to a nearby hospital by helicopter.
During police questioning from her hospital bed on the night of the crime, Stalzer said that her daughter was the one who attacked her. The 57-year-old suffered several stab wounds, but authorities confirmed on Wednesday that she is no longer in critical condition and there was no evidence of a political motive.
Law enforcement detained both Stalzer’s daughter and 15-year-old son, according to police investigator Jens Rautenberg. The daughter initially told officers that Stalzer was attacked outside the home in an “attempted robbery,” but investigators have since found two knives and blood-stained clothing believed to have been used in the attack.
“We’ve received news of a heinous crime in Herdecke,” German Chancellor Friedrich Merz wrote in a Tuesday X post. “It must be resolved quickly. We fear for the life of the mayor-elect, Iris Stalzer, and hope for a full recovery. My thoughts are with her family and loved ones.”
Rautenberg said no evidence proves family conflict caused the stabbing and declined to comment on the possible motives at a news conference in Hagen. Police are continuing the investigation and Stalzer is slated to start her term on Nov. 1.
In China’s Tibet region, rescuers save hundreds stranded on Mount Everest
Around 900 people were trapped on the lower slopes of Mount Everest after a severe blizzard over the weekend, all of whom reportedly reached safety by Tuesday.
The snow storm began Saturday night, amid congestion during a weeklong national holiday that ends Wednesday. Camping tents where hikers had been situated were buried under the snow and dozens of hypothermia cases were reported.
By Sunday night, rescue workers guided about 350 hikers to safety at a meeting point in Qudang township. Rescuers provided food, heating packs, medicine and oxygen supplies to those stranded, according to Xinhua News Agency. At least one death was reported.
At an altitude of 16,000 feet, those stranded included 580 hikers and over 300 guides, yak herders and other workers, as reported by the Associated Press. Mount Everest’s east slope area in China’s Tibet Autonomous region — the world’s highest peak at 29,000 feet — was temporarily closed due to safety concerns.
“Thankfully, some people ahead of us were breaking trail, leaving footprints we could follow — that made it a little easier,” hiker Eric Wen told Reuters. “Otherwise, it would’ve been impossible for us to make it out on our own.”
Over 200 stranded individuals remain in freezing temperatures near the eastern side of Everest in Tibet and rescue teams are set to evacuate them, according to the Reuters report.
In Spain, four workers dead after hotel collapse
Four workers were killed on a hotel construction site located in a Madrid tourist hub on Tuesday, while three others were injured.
A concrete slab fell from the top floor of a six-story building in the midst of being converted into a four-star hotel. The incident killed three male foreign workers from Mali, Guinea and Ecuador, as well as the project’s female architect.
Initially, rescue workers found only two of the four bodies on site. On Wednesday, the city’s mayor confirmed that the rest of the bodies had been recovered from the rubble. Other workers suffered non-life threatening injuries, as reported by the Associated Press.
Madrid police have preliminarily classified the incident as a “workplace accident,” and authorities are launching an investigation into the cause of the event. Up to 40 workers were on the construction site at the time of the collapse.
The building was built in 1965 and has long been abandoned, according to local residents. Construction started at least two years ago and received unfavorable ratings in inspections of the building’s conditions in 2012 and 2022. .The building, formerly used for offices, is owned by a Saudi Arabia-based real estate firm, RSR Singular Assets Europe. Spanish construction company Rehbilita was in the process of converting the building into a four-star hotel.
Contact Eva Mundo at [email protected].