Help Victims of Riga Supermarket Collapse

The roof of a Maxima supermarket located in Zolit?de's Priedaines street in Riga, Latvia collapsed on 21 November 2013 at approximately 18:00. Fifty-four people are reported to have died, among them three firemen, and another 36 injured were recovered from the rubble and received medical attention.

Eyewitnesses said that at around a fire alarm was set off and there were announcements made that the store should be evacuated. However, security personnel verified this to be related to welding construction in the basement and switched off the alarm. It was later reported that the owner of the company which had installed the alarm said that it was designed to detect fire emergencies. He said it is unlikely that the alarm was set off by dust from the roof starting to collapse, as it was set off near water pipes in the basement. The store's security verified that there was no fire and therefore did not carry out an evacuation, but rather treated it as a false alarm and called in a technician to turn it off. The building collapsed shortly after the technician arrived and he was never able to verify why the alarm went off. A board member of "Maxima Latvija" said that security had followed protocol, which was not to evacuate if there was no visible danger. According to some reports the smaller shops in the retail centre, unlike Maxima, were evacuated and closed down.

The roof caved in at 17:41 local time. Due to the electrical system automatically locking the doors and trapping several people inside the store, people had to break the glass to escape. Eyewitnesses said the roof collapsed over the checkout counters, where many people waited in lines. This was confirmed by police who released a map based on CCTV footage right before the collapse. The roof fell not only into the building, but also on several cars parked outside the store. Several minutes after the initial collapse, another part of the roof collapsed, trapping several firefighters. Another fireman was reported to be injured during clearing of the rubble in early hours of November 23.

Shortly before 18:00 on November 23 another collapse occurred, reported on video by BBC News. None of the rescuers were harmed in it.

On November 24 at 22:00 Rescue works stopped. 54 Died. 32 Kids left without parents.