GERMANY: Rescuers in southern Germany suspended efforts yesterday to reach a woman and three youths still feared trapped under an ice-rink roof that caved in and killed at least 11 others, saying it might give way completely.
Local officials in the town of Bad Reichenhall near the Austrian border said they hoped to resume the recovery operation later, once heavy lifting gear had arrived and removed what remains of the massive building, whose roof fell in on Monday.
"Whenever it is possible, we will go in with the dogs and personnel to find those who are still in the wreckage," the chief fire officer, Rudi Zeif, said.
Up to 15 people, mainly children and teenagers, are now feared dead after heavy snow caused the collapse of the roof. Another 18 were injured in the accident - three seriously - while others were treated at the scene for minor injuries.
Rescue workers worked through a night of sub-zero temperatures, searching for trapped survivors. They halted work in the afternoon amid fears that the sagging building walls could cause a further collapse.
"Hope is always there, but time is against us now," said Mr Zeif, as a second night of sub-zero temperatures loomed. "We will search until we find the last person."
More than 500 rescue workers worked through heavy snowfall using shovels and sniffer dogs, while cranes and bulldozers removed rubble from where the flat roof of the skating and swimming complex collapsed in on itself into a ragged V-shape.
Sheets of snow-covered corrugated iron roofing still clung to wooden roof beams that just 24 hours earlier had snapped over the heads of families enjoying themselves before the end of the Christmas holidays.
Pallbearers yesterday carried the first white coffins from the ruined building as locals stood watching in driving sleet. "It can happen so quickly," an onlooker said. "A life can be over so quickly."
Four girls and two boys aged between nine and 12 died, as well as two teenagers and a middle-aged woman. All victims were from Berchtesgaden and Traunstein, home for many years to Pope Benedict XVI.
As hopes of finding further survivors dwindled, accusations gathered force. Local journalists said the 32-year-old rink and swimming pool structure was in need of urgent repairs, measures already agreed by the council. Others suggested the tragedy could even have been avoided, after an ice hockey practice was cancelled before it was due to start at 6pm because of the amount of snow on the roof.
"A council official told me to cancel the ice-hockey training because they wanted to shovel the snow off the roof as a safety measure," said coach Thomas Rumpeltest. "The roof dripped a bit, but there was never any talk of safety concerns."
Shortly before 4pm the centre supervisor told families to leave the rink, but about 50 people were still on the ice when the roof began to creak loudly before collapsing.
"The building was not dilapidated," said local mayor Wolfgang Heitmeyer, who spent the day giving interviews and chain-smoking. "Because of the kind of roof construction, we naturally checked the snow levels regularly, and it was significantly lower than the maximum allowed level yesterday."
Meteorologists suggested that the tragedy may have been caused by extremely wet snow that fell on Monday, putting an unusually heavy load of about 300kg per square metre on the roof.
An investigation has already begun, but state prosecutor Helmut Vordermayer said yesterday was "not a day of investigation a day of mourning".
A visibly shaken Bavarian state premier Edmund Stoiber visited the scene, saying he "didn't want to leave the people alone with their calamity".
In Berlin chancellor Angela Merkel said "the awful fate suffered above all by children and young people . . . moves us all".
