- Title: LATVIA: Riga supermarket collapse survivor speaks of his "lucky" escape
- Date: 24th November 2013
- Summary: RIGA, LATVIA (NOVEMBER 24, 2013) (REUTERS) EXTERIOR OF HOSPITAL ENTRANCE AT HOSPITAL LATVIAN FLAG WITH BLACK RIBBON AT HOSPITAL HOSPITAL CORRIDOR DOOR STORE COLLAPSE SURVIVOR AIGARS BENIS IN WARD PILLOW ON HOSPITAL BED (SOUNDBITE) (Latvian) STORE COLLAPSE SURVIVOR, AIGARS BENIS, SAYING: "There was a noise, I remember some piece of metal and I lost consciousness for a whil
- Embargoed: 9th December 2013 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Latvia
- Country: Latvia
- Topics: Accidents
- Reuters ID: LVAAVOW9WRSWOGV647ZOWQYM1OE
- Story Text: One of the first people to be pulled from the rubble of a collapsed supermarket in the Latvian capital of Riga spoke of his "lucky" escape on Sunday (November 24) as rescue workers continued excavation work at the site.
Riga's Maxima store collapsed on Thursday (November 21), trapping scores of shoppers and killing at least 54 people.
The search for survivors in the ruins of the store was stopped on Saturday (November 23) after a part of the roof which had remained intact since Thursday fell in.
One of those injured in the collapse, Aigars Benis, had made a quick visit to the store on Thursday when the tragedy happened.
"There was a noise, I remember some piece of metal and I lost consciousness for a while. When I recovered consciousness, I saw sky and the windows of the building next to the store. It was raining. I realised that a disaster has happened. I was shocked, I thought I was having a nightmare," he recalled from his hospital bed.
Benis found himself surrounded by debris.
"I was covered by soil and shampoo bottles up to my waist. At first rescuers freed my right leg, then the left leg. They took me and brought out of the store," said Benis.
Benis' head wounds were still visible as he spoke in hospital in Riga. He also has injuries to his left leg.
"Honestly speaking, I was lucky," he added.
Benis told Reuters he found it hard to watch media coverage of the supermarket collapse.
"It was just a moment, no one could react. There were no chances to escape."
Rescue workers resumed excavation work at the site of the tragedy, although Latvian emergency services say the possibility of finding survivors now is close to zero.
Latvia continued its period of national mourning on Sunday. Flowers and candles have been laid outside the collapsed supermarket.
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.
Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis announced three days of mourning from Saturday for the victims of the tragedy, and called the store collapse "murder".
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.
20 injured people remain in hospitals in the city. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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