German ice rink roof collapses, killing 3

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German ice rink roof collapses, killing 3
Police say 20 of 50 people inside missing
BERLIN - The roof of an ice rink collapsed Monday after a heavy snowfall in this town in the Bavarian Alps, killing three people, injuring more than 20, and leaving another 20 missing, police said.

Rescue workers swarmed the scene in the town of Bad Reichenhall after the collapse occurred about 4 p.m., and police using a dog searched for people in the wreckage. Doctors set up a makeshift infirmary at a building next door where injured people lay with intravenous hookups.

Police spokesman Fritz Braun said at least three people died, between 20 and 25 were injured, and 20 were still missing.

At least three children being carried by rescuers to a Red Cross medical tent were among the injured seen by an Associated Press photographer.

Braun told the AP from nearby Traunstein said firefighters were “trying to shore up the remains of the roof to get to the injured.”

He said the heavy snow had hampered officials from reaching the scene.

It was not immediately clear what caused the collapse of the roof of the building, constructed in the 1970s. The town is in the southeastern corner of Germany, on the border with Austria and about six miles from the Austrian city of Salzburg.

Elsewhere in the region, three mountaineers were reported missing after they were buried by an avalanche Monday in the German Alps.

The three were part of a group of 10 people hit by the avalanche on the 6,500-foot Schrecksattel mountain in Bavaria, police said.

Seven had been able to struggle free. Mountain rescue teams were on their way to the scene, but heavy snowfall was preventing a helicopter from joining the search, police said.

Six people were reported killed by avalanches over the weekend in the French Alps. One of the victims was identified as Ajay Tambe, 42, of Cupertino, Calif. Two others were also foreigners, but their nationalities and names were not released.

© 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/10596709/

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Search halted for survivors of ice rink collapse
Rescuers pull out fearing further collapse; at least 11 killed in German hall
BAD REICHENHALL, Germany - Rescuers halted their search Tuesday for survivors feared trapped for nearly a full day under the wreckage of a fallen ice rink roof that killed 11 people, including six children, fearing the ruins could collapse further.

An expert survey showed “that it would be irresponsible for more rescue workers to go in,” said George Grabner, a local councilor for the region that includes the southeastern town of Bad Reichenhall.

Rescue workers recovered two more bodies just past noon (6 a.m. ET) Tuesday, more than 20 hours after the accident, slowly carrying a stretcher covered with a white cloth out of the wreckage. Several more people were missing.

Recovery efforts were hampered by persistent heavy snow in the area, and help was called in from neighboring Austria.

Snow causes delays
Workers with dogs were able to comb the building only several hours after the accident, once the remains of the roof were stabilized. Heavy snowfall clogged roads and delayed the arrival of heavy equipment used to move wreckage.

Police said 18 people were injured -- three of them seriously -- and were taken to nearby hospitals. Another 16 people escaped without injury, they said.

Some 360 rescue workers were at the scene. Police spokesman Franz Sommerauer said rescue crews had gained access to around half the hall by early Tuesday morning.

They were trying to remove the largest chunks of debris with the help of six cranes but had to use their hands to remove metal and concrete debris where they feared victims might be.
Officials clung on to hope of finding survivors after a 6-year-old girl was rescued with no major injuries more than five hours after the collapse.

Rescue officials, however, expressed concern that anyone still trapped between the debris and the ice would risk hypothermia. Authorities said families with children had been in the hall at the time of the accident.

Among the confirmed fatalities were a 13-year-old boy, and two girls ages 7 and 8, one of whom was killed along with her mother. A 12-year-old boy who was revived at the scene later died at a hospital.

Snow below danger point
Police and prosecutors were investigating the accident. Fire service officials initially said the flat roof, the wreckage of which pointed up from the center of the 1970s building at an angle, appeared to have collapsed under the weight of snow.

An official with the town's ice hockey club said he had been told by town authorities 30 minutes before the accident that a regular practice session for youth players was canceled because there was a risk of the facility collapsing.

However, "apparently the public skating was still continuing," Thomas Rumpeltes told The AP. Local officials said there had been a roughly 8-inch layer of snow on the roof.

Mayor Wolfgang Heitmeier said the weight of the snow had been measured at midday and that it was well below the point at which the hall would have had to be closed.

Heitmeier told reporters that, following heavy snowfall in the afternoon, there had been some concern that those levels could be reached Tuesday, and the planned evening training was canceled as a precaution. The snow was to have been shoveled off Tuesday morning.

However, he said officials did not see any danger on Monday "because the levels were significantly below the limit."

Loud creaking heard
Bavarian broadcaster Bayerischer Rundfunk reported that a supervisor had ordered the last skaters off the ice seconds before the collapse.

It also said loud creaking had been heard just before the accident. The skating rink measured 200 by 100 feet. The building, with large glass windows around its sides, was attached to a municipal swimming pool and tennis court.

Bad Reichenhall, a town of some 15,000 people, is on the border with Austria and about six miles from the city of Salzburg.

© 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/10596709/

[GorToma]

4 people are still missed in the building - R I P - to the dead one

[Esther]

It's aweful :( I remember we went in that ice station a few years ago :( R.I.P...

[GorToma]

till now they have 14 dead - one woman still missing - most of the dead are kids

[GorToma]

all 15 missing people where killed