Latvia store collapse: was rooftop garden to blame?
- A roundup of global news reports
As rescue workers searched the rubble for survivors after on Thursday in Latvian capital Riga, leaving at least 47 people dead, questions began to swirl about whether and how the tragedy could have been avoided.
The news closely followed a similar, though far less deadly, in South Africa this week. Both events underscore the risk posed in public spaces as a result of allegedly shoddy construction. In both countries, the tragedies may also have聽political implications.
The collapse in Riga is still under investigation, . It happened around 6 pm, when residents of a densely populated suburban neighborhood crowded the store on their way home from work. At least three firefighters died after the second part of the supermarket roof gave way, just as they were rushing to help people trapped inside.聽
Paul Tribble, a British citizen who lives in Riga, that he was grocery shopping in the supermarket when the roof caved in and a falling isle knocked him to the ground. He and his partner Elizabeth, who was also at the store, managed to escape nearly unscathed through the loading bay exit. His account gives a glimpse of how crowded the suburban supermarket was during the evening rush:
When we came out into the loading bay there were hundreds of other people out there too. [鈥 The store would have been packed when we were inside. When we arrived there were no trolleys or shopping baskets left and I had to go to the checkout and ask for one that another customer had just finished unloading.
A full day later, rescue crews continued to search the rubble for people trapped inside. The聽鈥渆normous鈥� section of the collapsed roof may have measured 5,300 square feet, reports the Associated Press.
Rescue workers kept up their round-the-clock search for possible survivors as darkness fell on Friday, periodically turning off all equipment and asking the relatives of missing people to call so they could pinpoint ringing phones.聽
While the official cause remained under investigation, one hypothesis is that a sodden winter garden on the roof of the building聽contributed to the collapse. Stacked above the store were building materials, earth, and sand for building the garden, a load possibly made heavier by water trapped on the roof after several days of rain.聽
On his way out from the collapsed building, Mr. Tribble from the gaping hole above. 鈥淚 can only think it had no way to drain," he told the BBC. 聽
The tragedy in Riga comes on the heels of an incident in the South African city of Durban, where a soon-to-be-opened shopping center , trapping several dozen construction workers under the rubble and killing one. The cause is under investigation, . Construction practices and safety procedures were instantly called into question.聽
If there is one commonality between the two incidents, it鈥檚 that faulty construction and maintenance practices that put people at risk in public spaces may carry far-ranging political implications. The tragedy in Riga 鈥渋s a blow for Latvia," writes聽,聽"coming little more than a month before the former Soviet state is set to join the euro zone.鈥澛燭he Latvian prime minister confirmed that a criminal investigation had been launched. What it manages to uncover on the local level of a Riga suburb may have repercussions much higher up.聽
Similarly in South Africa, the ongoing probe into the accident may undermine the country鈥檚 governing political party, from this Wednesday:
If safety regulations are found to have been flouted, the accident could damage [South Africa鈥檚] ruling African National Congress (ANC) as it moves toward an election next year because of widespread perceptions of incompetence and corruption in local government.
