14 die in swimming pool tragedy

2005-12-05 07:45

Moscow - At least 14 people were killed and several more injured when the roof of a public swimming pool collapsed in the Urals region of Russia, officials said early on Monday.

Of the 14 victims, 10 were children between nine and 12-years-old and four women, local emergency ministry official Anatoly Shinakov said as quoted by the ITAR-TASS news agency.

Earlier officials said that only eight bodies were found, but then "two more bodies - those of a woman and a girl - were recovered from underneath the ruined roof that fell into the pool," Shinakov said.

The eight bodies that had been recovered earlier had already been identified, Shinakov said.

"Only a little part of" the 100 square-metre roof, which collapsed on Sunday at the municipal pool in Chusovoi, a town near the city of Perm in the Ural mountains, "is yet to be cleared away, this is the hardest part, but will be only an hour of work," Shinakov said.

Up to 30 people could have been in the pool at the time of the accident, officials said.

Of the 11 people that were rescued at the time of accident, eight were rushed to a hospital with various injuries, and three received medical aid on the spot.

Officials did not immediately give a reason for the collapse. An abrupt change in the weather which brought heavy snowfalls was thought to be a possibility.

Local prosecutors have opened a criminal investigation.

In February 2004, 28 people died and almost 200 were hurt in a collapse at a water park in Moscow. The design of the building was blamed.

- AFP