18th-century chateau in Bordeaux razed 'by mistake'

PARIS (AP) - Residents of a sleepy French village in Bordeaux have been left dumbfounded after discovering their local 18th-century chateau was completely bulldozed "by mistake".

The mayor's office in Yvrac said on Wednesday that workers who were hired to renovate the grand 13,000 sq m estate in November and raze a small building mixed up them up.

Former owner Juliette Marmie says: "The Chateau de Bellevue was Yvrac's pride and joy." She adds that the whole village is in shock. "How can this construction firm make such a mistake?"

The chateau's current owner Russian businessman Dmitry Stroskin was away and returned home to discover his beloved chateau - with a grand hall that could seat some 200 people - was nothing but rubble.