Jakarta Globe – AFP, November 22, 2013
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| Rescuers search for survivors on November 21, 2013 at the Maxima supermarket in Riga, after a roof collapsed. Four people were killed and around 30 others injured on Thursday when the roof of a supermarket collapsed in a suburb of Latvia’s capital Riga, emergency services said. (AFP Photo) |
Riga.
Rescuers in Latvia frantically combed the rubble of a supermarket on Friday, a
day after its roof collapsed on hundreds of shoppers near the capital Riga,
killing at least 25 people.
The roof of
the Maxima supermarket smashed down on customers during peak shopping hours
around 6:00 pm on Thursday in the Riga suburb of Zolitude.
Hundreds of
people were thought to be inside the two-year-old building, and there were
fears that many children could have been among them as a high school is near
the store.
Rescuers
rushed to the scene, but many were themselves trapped when the roof of the
500-square-meter (600 square yard) shop caved in a second time, killing at
least three firefighters and injuring 10 rescue workers.
“By 9:30
a.m. [0730 GMT] 25 bodies have been recovered but several of them have not been
identified and we appeal for help to anyone who has missing loved ones they
have not been able to contact and who they believe may have been in the Maxima
store,” police said in a statement.
At least 35
people have been injured as a result of the cave-in so far, officials said.
Around 200
rescue workers, backed by military personnel, combed through the rubble through
the night.
“We are
working at maximum capacity but it’s a very dangerous situation in the building
— it seems likely we will have to continue working all day long,” said fire
chief Oskars Abolins.
The
accident shocked the small Baltic state and visiting the scene, Prime Minister
Valdis Dombrovskis said police had launched a criminal investigation to find
the cause of the disaster and said he would be holding an emergency meeting
Friday morning.
“We cannot
say anything about the cause yet, but it has been a very tragic night,”
emergency services spokeswoman Viktorija Sembele told AFP.
Speculation
about the possible cause centerd on plans to cover the roof in grass as part of
a greening project.
Local
council official Juris Radzevics said that plans had been submitted to the
council to turn the roof into a green area.
“The
project was submitted in accordance with all regulations but of course we will
be looking at whether materials and works were carried out to the proper
standards,” Radzevics told the LNT television channel.
Run by the
Lithuanian-owned Maxima chain — Latvia’s number two retailer after Rimi — the
supermarket was built in 2011 and was named one of the country’s top three
architecture projects that year.
Maxima
published a statement on its website saying the company was “overwhelmed and
shocked” by the disaster but that it was not yet aware of the cause and was
providing “all the information at our disposal” to the authorities.
Agence France-Presse
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