Cologne, Germany - Rescuers Thursday located another body in the rubble of the Cologne city archive nine days after it collapsed, dragging two other buildings with it.

It was not immediately clear whose body it was, they said. Rescuers had been searching for a 24-year-old man, identified only as Khalil G., missing since the collapse.

They said the body would take a long time to removed, as it was located nine metres below ground level. It had been located by sniffer dogs.

The body of a 17-year-old apprentice baker had been pulled from the rubble on Sunday. He had apparently been asleep in an adjacent apartment complex when it tumbled to the ground along with the archive in the early afternoon of March 3.

The collapse appeared to be linked to tunnelling work for a new underground train line that undermined the archive, which was crammed with manuscripts detailing Europe's medieval heritage and the works of great authors and musicians.

The archive staff and users had fled to safety within three minutes after the walls began to groan and buckle. A total of three buildings then fell into the hole that opened up in the ground.

The bizarre disaster is one of Germany's worst heritage losses since World War II.

The archives, which had six levels above ground and two below, were described as the richest municipal record collection in northern continental Europe, including decrees by emperors, lists of medieval (dpa)