LATVIA: Rescue workers stop the search for victims of a supermarket collapse in the Latvian capital, with officials saying chances of finding any more survivors are slim

Record ID: 216416

  • Title: LATVIA: Rescue workers stop the search for victims of a supermarket collapse in the Latvian capital, with officials saying chances of finding any more survivors are slim
  • Date: 23rd November 2013
  • Summary: RIGA, LATVIA (NOVEMBER 23, 2013) (REUTERS) (NIGHT SHOTS) COLLAPSED SUPERMARKET CORDONED OFF RESCUE WORKERS OUTSIDE COLLAPSED SUPERMARKET VARIOUS OF FIRE TRUCKS LEAVING SITE (SOUNDBITE) (English) LATVIAN STATE SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR MINISTRY, ILZE PETERSONE-GODMANE, SAYING: "The decision is to stop the rescue works for now until tomorrow morning because of a technical
  • Embargoed: 8th December 2013 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Latvia
  • Country: Latvia
  • Topics: Accidents
  • Reuters ID: LVAB3E3WS0CCQ2JDL2ERBNK1OJ9L
  • Story Text: Rescue workers late on Saturday (November 23) stopped searching the rubble of a supermarket collapse that killed at least 54 people in a disaster that Latvia's president called "murder".
    State secretary of the Interior Ministry Ilze Petersone-Godmane said rescue workers were working out how to continue the search safely.

    "The decision is to stop the rescue works for now until tomorrow morning because of a technical solution, we are looking for the next technical solution, how to safely continue the research works," said Petersone-Godmane.
    Ambulance chief Armands Plorins said in a news briefing the chances of finding more survivors was close to zero.

    "Taking into account the weather conditions and the trauma suffered by those bodies that were taken out from debris, hope that someone inside could still survive is very small. This possibility is zero," he said.
    The search in the ruins of Riga's Maxima store was aborted after part of a roof which had remained intact since the Thursday disaster fell in at around 1600 GMT on Saturday.
    The city's rescue department said workers were not in danger.

    "The third collapse was due to changes in the construction, which we were monitoring the whole time. Because of that the rescuers were in safe proximity during the rescue operation," said Uldis Abolins, head of the rescue department.
    Other parts of the ruins were also deemed unstable, making further rescue efforts too dangerous.

    "We have understood that further presence of rescuers in the building may endanger their lives," said Petersone-Godmane, outside the collapsed supermarket.
    Many people gathered near the ruins on Saturday, bringing candles and flowers, as rescue workers went home for the night.
    Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis announced three days of mourning from Saturday for the victims of the tragedy, in which scores of shoppers were trapped under rubble.
    The former Soviet republic's President, Andris Berzins called the collapse a 'murder' of defenceless people, during a television interview.
    Rescue workers freed many survivors from the ruins in the first hours after the accident, but by Saturday afternoon no survivors had been found for a day. Twenty-nine injured people were taken to hospital, 11 of whom were firefighters. Three firefighters were among the dead.
    The total death toll might be higher than 54, as police said they had been notified of seven missing people who might be under the rubble.
    The rescue service will decide on Sunday (November 24) morning how to continue, as an area of around 80 square metres (860 square feet) of the 1500-square-metre store is still covered with rubble, in some places 4 metres (13 feet) deep.
    Police are looking for evidence of whether failures of design or construction of the store might have caused the collapse.
    Local media said workers had been building a roof garden on the supermarket, a single-storey building a 30- minute drive from the city centre.
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