The Hindu : Technological disaster, says Moscow Mayor

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Feb 16, 2004

International

International

Technological disaster, says Moscow Mayor

By Vladimir Radyuhin

MOSCOW, FEB. 15. At least 28 persons died, 110 were injured and scores trapped when the giant roof of a huge water park collapsed in Moscow last night.

Five thousand square metres of a concrete-cum-glass roof caved in when 420 persons, including many children, were splashing in several pools 20 metres beneath. The tragedy occurred at 7.15 p.m. local time on Saturday, when the recreation park was packed with 1,300 visitors. A child's birthday party was being held in the pool area where the roof collapsed, a police spokesman said. Five children were killed and 32 hospitalised with various kinds of wounds. Hundreds of rescue workers rushed to the scene and have so far recovered 25 bodies and pulled 49 persons alive from the rubble that was five metres high in some places. One person died of wounds later in hospital, amid fears that the toll might rise as several injured were in critical condition.

Rescuers stop every half an hour to listen to voices they said were still being heard in the rubble. Twentyfour hours after the catastrophe, 10 persons were still unaccounted for. With air temperature in Moscow dipping to around minus 20 degrees Centigrade, powerful heating machines have been pumping hot air into the wreckage to prevent people from freezing.

Officials dismissed initial reports that an explosion might have occurred at the leisure complex, Transvaal, situated in southern Moscow where a suicide bomb attack killed at least 40 commuters in the metro 10 days ago. The Moscow chief prosecutor, Anatoly Zuyev, said the collapse must have been caused by "faults in construction or wrong technical maintenance". Moscow police opened a criminal inquiry into the accident.

The Mayor of Moscow, Yuri Luzhkov, described it as the biggest-ever technological disaster. The 20,000-square metre Transvaal water park was built in 2002 by a Turkish building company "in a record short time of 18 months," according to owners. In addition to a water park, complete with a number of large pools, an artificial river and a lengthy water slide, Transvaal has a bowling alley, a roller skating rink, saunas, beauty saloons and restaurants.

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