Monday, January 30, 2006

Poland grieves: roof collapse death toll hits 62


After 48 hours and with sub-zero temperatures continuing, hope has all but faded for there being anymore survivors found after Saturday’s roof collapse in Poland. At 16:30 local time [15:30 GMT] a huge weight of snow is belived to have caused the massive collapse during a pigeon show. Up to 500 people were in the hall. BBC News 24 quickly brought pictures to viewers and constantly brought updates throughout the evening. Sky News covered the story only in the headlines. NTV in Germany carried the story Live though its affiliate CNN brought little coverage throughout the evening. In all 62 died in the disaster and 90 were injured. Some were still unaccounted for. It was described as the largest national disaster in years by state officials. After government meetings there are said to be investigations into why some exits were locked. There is also an investigation into why the building collapsed. There are allegations that snow was not swept from the roof regularly. Other theories have been discussed including vibrations from an orchestra and as to whether contraction from the differing temperatures both inside and out played a factor. Meanwhile a surreal scene was described by CNN’s Fionnuala Sweeney; dozens of ownerless pigeons were now flying around the site and roosting in the surrounding trees. Posted by Picasa

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