Roof collapse kills 56 in Moscow

MOSCOW – Tearful men and women – many wearing fur hats or scarves against the bitter cold – cradled cell phones to their ears as they tried desperately to find loved ones trapped under the snowy rubble after the roof collapsed on one of Moscow’s biggest markets.

At least 56 people were killed and 32 injured when the circular building caved in early Thursday, and rescuers worked furiously to clear concrete slabs and metal beams to reach survivors.

Cries and shouts rang out from the crowd near the devastated Basmanny market as emergency workers read the names of the injured. One woman was pulled away, wailing, after hearing her brother was killed.

The probable cause of the collapse was either the buildup of snow, design flaws or maintenance errors, Moscow Prosecutor Anatoly Zuyev said. Prosecutors have opened a criminal investigation on charges of negligence leading to deaths, the RIA-Novosti news agency reported.

Two to three inches of wet snow fell overnight in Moscow, on top of nearly 19 inches earlier, according to the Russian Weather Service.

Officials expressed relief the roof hadn’t collapsed later Thursday when the building would have been filled with shoppers taking advantage of the first day of a three-day holiday marking Defenders of the Fatherland Day, which honors Russia’s armed forces.

Virtually all the victims were believed to be workers from Azerbaijan and other former Soviet republics, among the thousands who have poured into the Russian capital to fill low-paying jobs.