38 Dead in Moscow Roof Collapse

[blue northern]

from CBC News Online

The snow-covered roof of a Moscow market collapsed on Thursday, killing at least 38 people and trapping as many as 40, said emergency officials.

Thick smoke was billowing from the wreckage of the Bauman market, which collapsed around 5 a.m. local time.

Officials blamed a spark from electrical rescue equipment for the fire, according to Russia's Interfax news agency. Rescuers used pickaxes and metal cutters to clear away the steel and concrete chunks in search of survivors.

Emergency Situations Minister Sergei Shoigu said people could be heard knocking and crying out beneath the rubble. Another Russian official, Emergency Situations Ministry head Yuri Akimov, said some were using cellphones to tell family and friends they were alive.

more here
http://www.cbc.ca/story/world/national/2006/02/23/moscow-roofcollapse060223.html
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How horrible.
I hope they can rescue those trapped in time.

[HereSince1628]

1. What is the deal with european engineering? There are way

too many of these happening.

[blue northern]

2. Snow overloading seems to be a common factor

And the rescue team started an accidental fire?
At least it was early AM before the market was full of shoppers.

[1932]

7. plus decaying infrastructure and underfunded government.

[seriousstan]

4. Same architect who designed the collapsed Transvaal water park

The Interfax news agency said the market had been designed in the 1970s by Nodar Kancheli, the same architect who drafted the plans for Moscow's Transvaal water park, where the roof collapsed in February 2004, killing 28 people. Prosecutors have blamed that collapse on design flaws.

[HereSince1628]

5. I'd say time to examine the structure of everything he designed.

[DoYouEverWonder]

3. So when is Bush going to launch a War against Snow?

More people have died this year in roof collapses, then have died from bird flu.

[saigon68]

6. We have plenty where I live

He can start here