At least 65 people were known to have died in Thursday's roof collapse at a Moscow market hall, authorities said Saturday, according to DPA. Most of the dead were traders from Azerbaijan and Georgia, they said. The Russian capital's Mayor Yuri Lushkov said the process of combing rubble should be completed by Sunday. The prosecutor's office had already announced Friday that the director of the market had been arrested on suspicion of manslaughter in the deadly roof collapse in the eastern district of Baumanskaya. The 2,000-square-metre roof of reinforced concrete is thought to have caved in under the weight of tons of snow. Rescue teams used heavy equipment to remove the remains of the roof at the site, where Moscow city officials said they plan to build a modern shopping centre to replace the market. Nodar Kancheli, architect of the market that was built in 1977, said the market management had contravened provisions for its use, but attributed the collapse chiefly to heavy snow. Kancheli, a renowned architect in Russia, also designed the "Transvaal" water park that collapsed in southern Moscow two years, killing 28 bathers. Mayor Lushkov announced speedy compensation of 100,000 roubles (3,548 dollars) for the survivors and the victims' families, including foreigners. The deadly roof collapse was the third this winter in Europe. Fifteen people died January 2 at a winter sports arena in Bavaria in southern Germany, and 63 people died when an exhibition hall roof collapsed on January 28 in Katowice in southern Poland. Both were also blamed on heavy snow on the roof.
