Mallorca hotel collapse traps workers under rubble

MADRID, Dec 16 (Reuters) - At least four workers were buried under tonnes of rubble when a hotel on the Spanish island of Mallorca partially collapsed on Tuesday following torrential rain, local officials said.

Rescue teams sifted through the ruins of what had been the top four floors of Hotel Son Moll -- a nine-storey beachside tower in Cala Rajada on the eastern tip of the Mediterranean island popular with German tourists.

"The hotel was being refitted and was closed to the public. There are four or five workers under the rubble," an emergency services spokesman said.

A local government official, who asked not to be named, said preliminary investigations pointed to the possibility that the building's cement had weakened during two days of heavy rain.

The website of Spanish newspaper El Mundo said one worker had died in the accident, however the local government official declined to confirm the report. (Reporting by Blanca Rodriguez and Inmaculada Sanz; translating by Ben Harding; Editing by Charles Dick)