LATVIA: Churches of all denominations hold services remembering the victims of the collapsed supermarket in Riga as country begins second day of national mourning

Record ID: 216421

  • Title: LATVIA: Churches of all denominations hold services remembering the victims of the collapsed supermarket in Riga as country begins second day of national mourning
  • Date: 24th November 2013
  • Summary: RIGA, LATVIA (NOVEMBER 24, 2013) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF LATVIAN FLAGS WITH BLACK RIBBONS EXTERIOR OF CATHOLIC CHURCH CATHOLIC SERVICE IN PROGRESS PRIEST AT ALTAR PAINTING ON WALL OF CHURCH VARIOUS OF PEOPLE IN CONGREGATION DURING SERVICE EXTERIOR OF RUSSIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH PEOPLE ENTERING CHURCH PEOPLE IN CONGREGATION AND PRIESTS DURING SERVICE PRIEST DURING SERVICE PEOPLE I
  • Embargoed: 9th December 2013 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Latvia
  • Country: Latvia
  • Topics: Accidents,General,Religion
  • Reuters ID: LVA8R2R5R8ZIC9J95S45MNW3DXZE
  • Story Text: Latvia continued its period of national mourning on Sunday (November 24) as churchgoers attended services in remembrance of the victims of a collapsed supermarket in the capital Riga.
    Services were held at Catholic and Russian Orthodox churches in the Latvian capital on the second day of national mourning for the victims of the tragedy.
    Riga's Maxima store collapsed on Thursday (November 21), killing at least 54 people.
    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, and called the store collapse "murder".
    The search 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. The search resumed on Sunday although there is little hope of finding survivors at this point.
    Other parts of the ruins were also deemed unstable, making further rescue efforts too dangerous.
    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.
    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.
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