4 Killed As Roof Collapses On German Rink

[Skywatch_NC]

4 Killed As Roof Collapses On German Rink

POSTED: 2:03 pm EST January 2, 2006
UPDATED: 2:03 pm EST January 2, 2006

BAD REICHENHALL, Germany -- The roof of an ice rink collapsed Monday after a heavy snowfall in this town in the Bavarian Alps, killing four people, injuring 25 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., with about 50 people inside, and police using a dog searched for people in the wreckage. Doctors set up a makeshift infirmary at a building next door, where the injured lay with intravenous hookups.

Fire service officials said the flat roof appeared to have collapsed under the weight of the snow.

The heavy snow also hampered rescue officials from reaching the scene, and a crane was eventually brought to the site. Rescue workers in helmets and heavy boots worked in steady snowfall into the night.

Police spokesman Fritz Braun told n-tv television that four bodies had been recovered, about 25 were injured, and about 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 said the rescue "is shaping up as very difficult _ it is very problematic getting into the hall." The roof could only be lifted with heavy equipment, he said.

The rink was built in the 1970s. The building was attached to a municipal swimming pool and tennis court.

An official with a local ice hockey club said he had been told by authorities half an hour 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.

Braun could not immediately confirm that a warning had been given.

"I don't have this information," he said. "Until now, there were no indications of a danger of the roof collapsing. The town of Bad Reichenhall did not give us such indications, but we will look into this."

Bavarian Gov. Edmund Stoiber said he was "deeply shaken" by the accident. "Our hopes now rest with the rescue forces at the scene, who are doing everything they can," he said.

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.

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Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press.