Poland roof collapse kills at least 60 people

Published 9:00 pm Saturday, January 28, 2006

KATOWICE, Poland – The snow-covered roof of a convention hall in southern Poland collapsed Saturday with as many as 500 people inside for a racing pigeon exhibition, killing at least 60 people and injuring at least 141.

No survivors had been found for more than six hours as rescue teams and dogs searched through pre-dawn darkness and freezing temperatures. Katowice fire chief Kazimierz Krzowski said rescue efforts “in a way have come to an end, and we are bringing out corpses.”

Krzowski said search teams found 13 places where people were believed to be under the rubble, and vowed to “work till the end” to complete the task of recovering them.

A priest outside the building’s entrance prayed over the bodies of an adult and a child covered by a blanket and a tarp. In the hours after the collapse, witnesses said people beneath the wreckage were calling family or emergency services on their cell phones for help.

Franciszek Kowal escaped onto a terrace when he saw the roof starting to fall, then jumped 15 feet to safety.

“People tried to break windows in order to get out,” Kowal said. “People were hitting the panes with chairs, but the windows were unbreakable. One of the panes finally broke, and they started to get out by the window.”

Krzysztof Mejer, a spokesman for the government of the Silesia region, said at least 60 people died and 141 were injured.

Fire brigade chaplain Capt. Henryk Kuczob, a Roman Catholic priest, said he gave last rites to one of the injured, a 50-year-old man who later died.

“A second man was taken to the hospital,” Kuczob said. “His 13-year-old daughter is dead, but he doesn’t know that yet. He’s in shock.”

Crumpled bird cages were scattered inside the building near the entrance, and dozens of pigeons perched on the twisted rafters, their feathers fluffed against the cold.

The weight of snow likely caused the roof to cave in at about 5:30 p.m., less than two hours before the event was scheduled to close for the evening, Katowice fire brigade spokesman Jaroslaw Wojtasik said.

Hundreds of firefighters responded, along with search-and-rescue teams with dogs and local miner rescue teams, Wojtasik said. Some 30 people gathered in a building next to the site awaiting news of their loved ones.

Even passers-by pitched in.

Zbigniew Chmurzynski said he was on his way back from the movies with his wife when they came upon the collapse. He said he raced home for his Labrador retriever, then headed back to the site.

“My dog found two unconscious people,” he said. “I just hope they’ll survive.”

Temperatures dropped to 1 degree overnight.

Rescue workers pumped warm air into the ruins for those feared trapped inside, as crews dug into the wreckage with saws and other equipment, using flashlights and floodlights.