LATVIA: Rescue workers search for survivors in the rubble of a supermarket in the capital Riga which collapsed on Thursday, killing at least 21 people

Record ID: 216414

  • Title: LATVIA: Rescue workers search for survivors in the rubble of a supermarket in the capital Riga which collapsed on Thursday, killing at least 21 people
  • Date: 22nd November 2013
  • Summary: RIGA, LATVIA (NOVEMBER 22, 2013) (REUTERS) COLLAPSED BUILDING SURROUNDED BY RESCUE WORKERS AND EMERGENCY VEHICLES RESCUE WORKERS IN FRONT OF COLLAPSED BUILDING TWO STRETCHERS VIEW OF RESCUE WORKERS THROUGH COLLAPSED ROOF RELATIVES OF VICTIMS WAITING BEHIND BARRIER VARIOUS OF COLLAPSED ROOF AND RESCUE WORKERS. (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) HUSBAND OF WOMAN STUCK INSIDE COLLAPSED
  • Embargoed: 7th December 2013 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Latvia
  • Country: Latvia
  • Topics: Accidents
  • Reuters ID: LVA2OE847IPU2UQ4STF7MJATXBEG
  • Story Text: Rescue workers pulled more bodies from the ruins of a collapsed supermarket in the Latvian capital, Riga, on Friday (November 22) taking the death toll to 21 with others feared buried in the rubble.
    TV pictures before dawn showed the wreckage of the Maxima store, in a suburb of grey, Soviet-era housing, surrounded by fire trucks and ambulances after the roof collapsed on Thursday (November 21) when the store was full of shoppers on their way home from work.
    The store, estimated at around 500 square meters (5,380 square feet) in size, was bathed in spotlights as diggers and rescue workers cleared away the wreckage.

    "Twenty-one dead found, searching continues," the State Fire and Rescue Service said in a tweet.
    Earlier, ambulance service spokeswoman Ilze Buksa told Latvian TV that 28 people had been injured and taken to hospital.
    It was not clear what caused the collapse, but Interior Minister Rihards Kozlovskis told Latvian TV by telephone: "It is clear that there has been a problem with fulfilment of construction requirements."
    Around 25 people waited near the wreckage for news of their relatives. The number of those trapped was so far unknown.

    "I have a wife there. There is no information about her, whether she is dead or alive. Wherever I call, there is no information," Igor Umanov told Reuters Television.
    After 15 hours of rescue work, he said he still believed his wife was alive.
    Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis told Latvian TV that rescue work may take a long time.
    Rescue workers were called to the store, which according to local media had been awarded an architecture prize when it was completed in 2011, late on Thursday.
    Three fire-fighters were killed and several other rescue workers were injured in a second collapse because of the building's weakened structure.
    Rescue workers were stopping work periodically to listen for survivors and for the sounds of mobile phones in the wreckage, Latvian TV said.
    A spokesman for the Maxima store said that five of its employees had been injured, two had been taken to hospital but three had not yet been found.

    "Of course, psychologically it is very hard to work, taking into account that three fire-fighters have died," Latvian rescue services spokeswoman Inga Vetere told Latvian radio.
    Early on Friday, cranes were working to lift and take off concrete blocks which are hampering rescue efforts, state fire and rescue service chief Oskars Abolins told Latvian TV.

    "As we have to search all the rubble and the whole construction, rescue work might continue for another day," he said.
    Local media said workers had been building a roof garden on the store.
    Former Soviet Latvia, which joins the euro zone next year, has been recording strong economic growth after a deep recession in the years following the global credit crisis, but it is still one of the poorest countries in Europe.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2013. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register