POLAND: Polish President Kaczynski declares national day of mourning as rescue efforts to find survivors of Chorzow exhibition hall disaster begin to wind down

Record ID: 216543

  • Title: POLAND: Polish President Kaczynski declares national day of mourning as rescue efforts to find survivors of Chorzow exhibition hall disaster begin to wind down
  • Date: 30th January 2006
  • Summary: (W1) CHORZOW, POLAND (JANUARY 29, 2006)(REUTERS) INTERIORS OF EXHIBITION HALL PIGEONS IN EXHIBITION HALL
  • Embargoed: 14th February 2006 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Poland
  • Country: Poland
  • Topics: Disasters / Accidents / Natural catastrophes
  • Reuters ID: LVAOZAEBU5VECCYUGI9OK71XOJD
  • Story Text: Hopes were fading on Sunday (January 29) of finding survivors after the roof of a packed exhibition hall collapsed in Poland and rescue workers pulled 66 bodies from the rubble in the country's worst disaster in almost two decades.
    After a night in which temperatures reached minus 15 Celsius (5 Fahrenheit), rescue workers began winding down their search for survivors among the rubble.
    Prime Minister Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz called off a trip to Stockholm planned for Monday and the president cancelled a visit to Prague, also scheduled for Monday.
    Kaczynski ordered a period of national mourning from 4 p.m. (1500 GMT) on Sunday through Wednesday and the national flag at the presidential palace was flying at half-mast. Pope Benedict expressed his condolences.
    "I have just signed a decree declaring a national day of mourning from 1600 (1500gmt) today until Wednesday 1st February. This is the biggest tragedy of the 3rd Republic," he said.
    President Lech Kaczynski said the death toll from Saturday's disaster in the southern city of Chorzow was unlikely to rise.
    Officials had earlier feared dozens more were trapped, but the regional fire brigade chief said the chances of finding any more people in the wreckage, dead or alive, were close to nil.
    About 150 people were injured when the metal roof of the modern building, the size of a soccer field, collapsed during a packed gathering of pigeon enthusiasts from across Europe.
    Kaczynski said 128 were still in hospital, two in a serious condition. Authorities said 14 foreigners were hospitalised in Poland's worst building collapse and its worst disaster of any kind since a Polish airlines jet crashed in 1987 outside Warsaw, killing 183.
    "The hospital is very well equipped, they have very good staff, they have all that is needed to provide the best of care," Prime Minister Marcinkiewicz said upon visiting a hospital where some of the survivors were being treated
    Dozens of relatives and survivors gathered at a crisis centre near the site in Chorzow, 350 km (210 miles) southwest of Warsaw, awaiting news of their friends and loved-ones.
    "We have agreed to meet up here in Chorzow...a group of friends. We agreed that whoever can come will come and join us," said a sobbing unidentified man whose friend he believes to be trapped in the building. When asked if he felt his friend was still alive he said he prayed that he was.
    The show, one of the largest in Europe, attracted participants from Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Ukraine and Poland, the event's Web site said.
    Berlin said at least one German was killed and four injured. Officials said three Belgians were injured, two Slovaks were missing and two injured. Czech news agency CTK reported three Czech citizens missing.
    The fire brigade and police said the weight of snow on the roof caused the collapse, but the building's manager told Polish television the snow had been cleared regularly.
    Nearly 1,000 police, firefighters and soldiers using cutting equipment and thermal imaging gear were involved in the rescue operation and workers from local mines were called in.
    Provincial prosecutors have launched an investigation to determine the cause of the collapse, PAP news agency reported.
    Poland is experiencing its coldest winter in several decades and, as in other parts of Europe, temperatures have fallen as low as minus 30C. The cold has killed nearly 200 people in Poland, disrupting transport and gas supplies.
    Earlier this month, 15 people were killed at an ice rink in Germany when a roof collapsed under the weight of snow.
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