Polish roof collapse leaves 32 dead

CHORZOW, Poland - At least 32 people were killed and 100 injured when the roof collapsed at an exhibition hall packed with hundreds of people in Poland.

One fire officer said about 100 people might be trapped in freezing conditions in the wreckage of the building the size of a soccer field where an international meeting of pigeon enthusiasts was being held.

Hospitals said five Germans, a Czech and a Belgian were among those injured at the exhibition the southern city of Chorzow that had also drawn participants from the Netherlands and Ukraine.

Emergency crews worked to free people from under the wreckage in freezing conditions. The injured were rushed to nearby hospitals while rescuers fought their way through the debris from the collapsed metal roof under floodlights.

"We heard something snap like a match breaking and people started to panic right away, realising what was happening," an injured witness told the private TVN24 television station from hospital.

"I started to run and something fell on me, others trampled over me and I was able to crawl out on hands and knees."

Nearby hospitals said at least five Germans, a Belgian and a Czech were among the injured. The nationalities of the dead were not known.

Polish television showed one man pinned under a section of the corrugated metal roof, his head and shoulders projecting, asking for help.

Television stations said rescuers were in mobile telephone contact with some of those trapped under the wreckage.

"Our biggest problem is the freezing cold, which is endangering the lives of those trapped in the rubble," regional police spokesman Andrzej Gaska told Reuters.

Temperatures have plunged to minus 15 Celsius and emergency services started to blow hot air into the collapsed structure to increase the chances of survival for those trapped.

Nearly 1,000 police, fire fighters and military gendarmes took part in the rescue.

Rescue workers carried out the most seriously injured on stretchers and brought in heavy metal cutting equipment over snowy ground.

Fire fighters with dogs trained to find victims beneath wreckage were sent to the scene.

The police initially said the weight of the snow caused the roof to collapse, but the building manager told Polish television that snow had been regularly cleared from the roof of the modern building.

Poland is experiencing its coldest winter in several decades. The death toll from a cold snap this winter stood at 199 on Saturday but was expected to top 200 over the weekend.

Temperatures have fallen to as low as minus 30C in parts of Europe.

The cold has killed the poor and vulnerable, disrupted transport, highlighted gas supply problems and frozen parts of the Black Sea.

Earlier this month, 15 people died at an ice rink in the town of Bad Reichenhall in southern Germany when a 34-year-old roof collapsed under the weight of snow.

Czech rescue officials said a woman was injured the same week when the roof of a supermarket collapsed under the weight of snow.

- REUTERS