Rescue operations continue to search bodies from the remains of the Maxima supermarket collapsed yesterday in Riga, the capital of Latvia. The number of casualties rises to 52 today.
To help rescuers in the search operations, police authority sketched a map based on the information retrieved from the security cameras. Latvian public television reported that at least 40 people are still trapped in the rubble as seen on cameras but this information is yet to get confirmation from the proper authority.

Rescue workers cleared the rubble from the store occupying about 1,500 square metres while ambulances and fire trucks were on standby. Cranes lifted huge slabs from the rubble. “Air temperature and high air moisture are factors that reduce possibility to find some survivor. But of course, hope remains,” Armands Plorins, Chief of Emergency Ambulance Service told local TV.
Probable cause of the collapse remains unknown, but Interior Minister Rihards Kozlovskissaid said, “It is clear that there has been a problem with fulfilment of construction requirements.” Local media said workers were building a roof garden on the single-storey supermarket. Soil, grass and parts of the new walkway could be seen dangling from the edges of the collapsed rooftop.
Latvian Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis said, “In our thoughts we are together with all those stricken by this tragedy. No matter what the cause of the tragedy was, the number of victims is too big.” The Prime Minister announced three days of mourning from today for the people who perished in the tragedy.
Latvia is a former Soviet Republic which joined the European Union nearly a decade ago and will join the Euro Zone next year.
To help rescuers in the search operations, police authority sketched a map based on the information retrieved from the security cameras. Latvian public television reported that at least 40 people are still trapped in the rubble as seen on cameras but this information is yet to get confirmation from the proper authority.

Rescue workers cleared the rubble from the store occupying about 1,500 square metres while ambulances and fire trucks were on standby. Cranes lifted huge slabs from the rubble. “Air temperature and high air moisture are factors that reduce possibility to find some survivor. But of course, hope remains,” Armands Plorins, Chief of Emergency Ambulance Service told local TV.
Probable cause of the collapse remains unknown, but Interior Minister Rihards Kozlovskissaid said, “It is clear that there has been a problem with fulfilment of construction requirements.” Local media said workers were building a roof garden on the single-storey supermarket. Soil, grass and parts of the new walkway could be seen dangling from the edges of the collapsed rooftop.
Latvian Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis said, “In our thoughts we are together with all those stricken by this tragedy. No matter what the cause of the tragedy was, the number of victims is too big.” The Prime Minister announced three days of mourning from today for the people who perished in the tragedy.
Latvia is a former Soviet Republic which joined the European Union nearly a decade ago and will join the Euro Zone next year.
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