Dozens of people were injured and 37 killed as shopping mall Maxima roof collapsed on Priedaines Street in Riga’s Zolitude neighbourhood on Thursday evening, The Baltic Course informs, referring to the news agency LETA.
At around 7 p.m., there were seventeen ambulances working at the scene. By that time, fifteen people had been hospitalised, as Emergency Medical Service’s representative Ilze Buksa told LETA.
Riga Vice Mayor Andris Ameriks was at the scene. On Thursday evening he said he had been informed there still could be around fifty people trapped in the rubble, including at least two fire-fighters.
Initial reports mentioned that the roof of the building collapsed after a boiler explosion, but later reports said the cave-in might have been caused by the continuing construction work on the roof.
Eyewitnesses told LETA that the total area of the collapsed roof section was around 500m2. After the first cave-in, another section of the roof caved in about an hour later. Both occurred at an evening shopping peak time.
Source: the Lithuania Tribune
http://www.leta.lv/eng/home/important/B0618AD1-C877-4948-8E14-6E9BD5987D6A/