AMSTERDAM, Netherlands (AP) -- At least five people were feared killed after a semitrailer truck slammed into a supermarket in the southern Netherlands and burst into flames, police said Friday.
The fire prevented rescuers from approaching the truck's cab or the building, where police said more victims may have been trapped. Part of a wall also collapsed, hindering rescue efforts.
``We suspect that at least five people were killed _ the three passengers and two people living above the supermarket,'' said police spokesman Peter Tans. ``The truck punched through the wall of the building and is stuck there.''
The estimated death toll doesn't include shoppers who may have been killed, Tans said. Efforts to pull the remains of the vehicle out of the burning building were halted when its facade collapsed.
The accident occurred in the town of Kerkrade on the German border, 220 kilometers (140 miles) south of Amsterdam.
Emergency teams from Germany rushed to help their Dutch counterparts at the scene.
The vehicle's brakes apparently failed at the top of a hill. The driver reportedly sounded the horn and swerved to avoid a group of children before ramming the building at the bottom of the decline, said a reporter for Dutch television at the scene.
Television footage showed a two-story building ablaze with thick columns of black smoke rising into the air. Firefighters battled a blaze on the rooftop, trying to keep the fire from spreading to neighboring houses.
