Two days after the devastating explosion in a Leverkusen waste incineration plant, emergency services found three other people dead in the rubble.
The public prosecutor and the Cologne police announced on Thursday.
The number of fatalities now discovered increased to five.
Two people are still missing, the prosecutor said.
The detonation had occurred on Tuesday morning in a tank farm in the Chempark - an area with chemical companies.
The search for missing persons turned out to be difficult.