Katowice Trade Hall roof collapse

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On 28 January 2006, the roof of one of the buildings at Katowice International Fair ("Międzynarodowe Targi Katowickie") collapsed in the southern Polish city of Chorzów , near Katowice.

At 16:15 GMT (17:15 local time), the central section of the roof of the hall collapsed, possibly due to the weight of snow on the building. According to the police there were roughly 700 people in the hall at the time of the collapse. A further collapse occurred 90 minutes later during rescue operations. Polish government spokesman Krzysztof Mejer confirmed that there had been 65 dead as well as more than 170 injured, including 13 foreigners. There are confirmed deaths of eight foreign tourists - one from Belgium, two from Germany, two from Slovakia, one from the Netherlands and two from the Czech Republic. The trade hall was hosting 56th National Exhibition of Carrier Pigeons, with over 120 exhibitors from all over Europe. Poland was at that time experiencing very cold weather with heavy snow. This means the rescue operation was undertaken in sub-zero temperatures, putting survivors inside the building at risk of exposure.

Rescue operation

Rescue support was sent from the surrounding area, including Katowice, as well as from the neighbouring province of Lesser Poland. Since parts of the collapsed structure were supported only by heaps of snow, the rescue teams could not heat the pockets beneath the collapsed roof with hot air, fearing that the roof might collapse even further.

The search and rescue action was terminated on the afternoon of Sunday January 29 2006 as, according to Janusz Skulich, commander of the Silesian Fire Fighters, the probability of rescuing any more survivors from beneath the collapsed roof was by then close to zero. Heavy equipment is reported to have started clearing the area of the remaining rubble. The rescue action was carried out by 103 firefighter teams (more than 1000 fire fighters altogether), as well as 230 policemen with dogs, military police units from Kraków and Gliwice, the GOPR mountain rescue team of Szczyrk and specialists from the mine rescue team of Bytom. Survivors were taken to nearby hospitals in Chorzów and Katowice, and to other towns of the region, including Siemianowice Śląskie, Bytom, Sosnowiec, Ruda Śląska, Dąbrowa Górnicza and Piekary Śląskie. Andrzej Skrzyś, vice-president of Polish Society of Carrier-Pigeons said that already on Saturday the rescue services brought over 1,000 pigeons to the office of the society that are being fed and watered by pigeon-fanciers from Chorzów until the arrival of their owners. On 30 January 2006 there were 67 confirmed deaths and about 30 missing people. Later that day the number of victims was revised down to 62 confirmed deaths. On 31 January three more bodies were found in the ruins of MTK, raising the death toll to 65. Next day, officials stated that due to irregularities by funeral houses and dissection rooms, the wrong number of victims had been reported, and on 1 February there were 63 confirmed deaths. On February 11 and February 14 the bodies of 64th and 65th victims of roof collapse were found.

In the morning of 19 February workers got to the last area of the hall that was still covered by fragments of the hall’s collapsed roof. They found no more victims but found two pigeons that were still alive after spending 22 days trapped under the rubble.

Aftermath and investigation

After the tragedy, the highest authorities arrived to the scene, including the Prime Minister Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz and the President of Poland Lech Kaczyński. The latter declared the period until February 1 to be national days of mourning.

On Tuesday, 21 February, at 0600 hours Central European Time (0500 UTC) three persons were arrested and then brought to the Katowice District Prosecutor’s Office: New Zealand–born chairman of the International Katowice Fair Board of Management Bruce Robinson (who is also a Managing Director of London–based Expomedia company that owns 51% share in MTK), deputy chairman Ryszard Ziółek, and company’s technical manager Adam Hildebrandt. They were interviewed and charged with criminal negligence – allegedly they were aware of the fact that the building was unsafe and yet allowed the Fair to go on, and by doing so they contributed to deaths of 65 people. The spokesperson for the Prosecutor’s Office did not rule out laying other charges in the future — depending on facts established by experts on causes of the building’s collapse. A search warrant was also executed at Mr. Robinson’s Warsaw apartment. The charges carry a maximum of 8 years imprisonment. Prosecutors also applied to the court for the accused to be detained for 3 months. The application was granted by the court, their application for bail was refused. A judge is quoted as saying that immediately after the catastrophe the accused destroyed some vital documents and there exists a possibility that if they were released on bail they would intimidate witnesses to change their testimonies. Their appeal against arrest was rejected by District Court on 5 May.

After interviewing some 200 witnesses, analysis of company documents, experts’ findings and data from company’s computers (some of which was recovered by computer specialists) the prosecutors allege that the accused are responsible for failing to remove heavy snow and ice from the building’s roof, and also that in the past the roof got damaged and yet they carried out only emergency repairs and did not report the damage to a building inspector as required by Polish law. Earlier the managers claimed both that the snow was removed from the roof and that it was impossible for them to clear the roof because a Tax Office seized their accounts due to tax arrears. A spokesperson for the Tax Office refuted this claim saying that only some of the company’s cash was seized and amount remaining should have been more than sufficient to pay for snow and ice removal.

On 31 March 2006 the commission investigating causes of the disaster released a preliminary report into their findings. They found numerous design and construction flaws that contributed to the speed of collapse. The snow from the roof was not being removed which resulted in construction overload by more than 100%. Moreover, in 2002 the construction buckled under the heavy snow; contrary to the regulations the hall was repaired without getting a building inspector’s clearance and without doing necessary tests and calculations to determine if the construction was stable and had sufficient strength.

On Monday, 26 June 2006, three architects who designed the hall were arrested. Two were charged with "wilfully causing a building catastrophe" and by this causing death of 65 people, the third one was charged with "involuntary causing a building catastrophe." The prosecutor alleges that Jacek J. and Szczepan K. made several errors and introduced several amendments to the project that were not agreed upon. Both were aware of the fact that in January 2000 the roof buckled under the weight of the snow, yet they did not take any steps to remedy the situation and perhaps prevent the tragedy. The third architect, Andrzej W., is charged with approving the project despite its errors and deficiencies. The charges are the result of reports made by experts on building, steel constructions and reinforced concrete constructions. Pursuant to Polish law that automatically grants accused name suppression, the surnames of the accused are unavailable in Polish media.

On 14 February 2007 the Court of Appeal in Katowice granted bail to the three top bosses of the company – Bruce Robinson, Ryszard Ziółek, and Adam Hildebrandt. Mr. Robinson will have to pay a 100,000 zloty bond (approx. €25,000/$33,000/£17,000), the other two – 50,000 zloty each. All three will also remain under police supervision and will have to surrender their passports. The prosecutor has appealed against granting them bail while one of the accused has appealed against the amount. On Monday, the 5 March 2007, the Court of Appeal in Katowice rejected both appeals and at the same time raised the amount that Bruce Robinson has to deposit to 300,000 zloty (about €75,000/$100,000/£50,000). The ruling is final.

As a result of the catastrophe, in March 2007 the Polish building law was amended. Large buildings must now undergo a technical survey twice every year (before and after winter) to make sure they are safe and structurally sound. Failure to conduct the survey is punishable by a minimum 1,000 zloty fine or a term of prison.

Indictment and trial

The investigation was formally completed at the end of June 2008. The public prosecutor of the Katowice District Public Prosecutor’s Office decided to indict 12 persons. These include the designers of the hall, Jacek J. and Szczepan K., who on conviction for “directly endangering lives of other people” face up to 12 years of prison, two members of the board, Bruce Robinson and Ryszard Ziółek, and 7 other people, who on conviction for gross negligence face up to 8 years in jail, and the Chorzów County building inspector who faces lesser charges. The indictment was filed with the court on 18 July.

The experts determined that the main reason for the catastrophe was incorrect project. It was changed in order to make the construction cheaper. E-mails recovered from seized computers prove that members of the Board of Directors were fully aware of the problems and of an expert’s recommendation that snow be removed from the roof and that the project is verified. One of the indicted, technical co-ordinator Piotr I., is charged with failing to order the vacuation doors to be opened; he is the only one that pleaded guilty. In the course of investigation it was found that none of the victims died because of locked evacuation doors.

Post-mortems carried out on victims have shown that none of them died because to exposure; all died because of injuries sustained because of the collapse of the roof.

Location of MTK

There has been some confusion over whether MTK is located in Katowice or Chorzów. The registered and street addresses of the company are in Katowice, and the entrance to the grounds is from a street that belongs administratively to Katowice. However, the company’s grounds - and thus the site of the catastrophe - lie within Chorzów’s administrative boundaries. See [http://www.chorzow.um.gov.pl/index.php4?ID=113848898720415286 official explanation and map of the Katowice-Chorzów boundary] on the Chorzów City Council website (in Polish).

ee also

* Bad Reichenhall ice rink roof collapse – a similar incident in Germany on 2 January 2006 which killed fifteen.
* Chusovoi swimming pool roof collapses after heavy snow. 5 December 2005. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4497392.stm]
* Moscow swimming pool roof collapses after heavy snow. 15 February 2004. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3489153.stm]
* Moscow market hall roof collapses after heavy snow. 23 February 2006. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4742134.stm]

References

*pl icon cite news
first=
last=
pages=
title=Katastrofa w Katowicach - Raport (Catastrophe in Katowice - Report)
date=January 31, 2006
publisher=onet.pl, TVN24
url=http://wiadomosci.onet.pl/5050,temat.html
*pl icon cite news
first=
last=
pages=
title=Tragedia na Śląsku (Tragedy in Silesia)
date=January 30, 2006
publisher= TVP - Telewizja Polska
url=http://ww6.tvp.pl/120,20060129296822.strona
*cite news
first=
last=
pages=
title=Exhibition Hall Collapses in Poland
date=January 29, 2006
publisher=Deutsche Welle
url=http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,1876077,00.html
*cite news
first=
last=
pages=
title=Roof collapse: ‘No more survivors’
date=January 29, 2006
publisher=CNN
url=http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/europe/01/29/roof.collapse/index.html
*cite news
first=
last=
pages=
title=Hopes fade after Poland collapse
date=January 29, 2006
publisher=BBC News
url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4659030.stm
*cite news
first=
last=
pages=
title=Polish hall collapses killing 32
date=January 28, 2006
publisher=BBC News
url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4658214.stm
*cite news
first=
last=
pages=
title=Death toll in Polish roof collapse hits 26
date=January 28, 2006
publisher=MSNBC
url=http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10663279/

External links

* [http://www.mtk.katowice.pl/plan.php Exhibition grounds map, Hall #1]
* [http://www.golab.mtk.katowice.pl/en_index.php Exhibition website]