Supermarket roof collapse death toll rises to 45

Police say officials expect the death toll at the sprawling Maxima supermarket in Riga to rise.

The number of injured remains at 35, including 10 firefighters, and nine of the dead are still unidentified.

Rescue workers were keeping up their round-the-clock search for possible survivors yesterday.

They were periodically turning off all equipment and asking relatives of missing people to call so they could hear ringing mobile phones in the rubble.

The reason for the collapse during the shopping rush-hour on Thursday was still not known but rescue and police officials said that possible theories include building design flaws and poor construction work.

Pictures from residential buildings overlooking the store showed an enormous crater-like hole in the roof. Building materials were stacked on remaining sections of the roof, where workers were building a garden as part of the Maxima supermarket’s original design plan.

Several large construction cranes hauled debris from the hole. Work was continuing slowly since both the rubble and remaining sections of roof were like a house of cards and could easily collapse further if a wrong piece is moved or lifted, said an official.

Firefighters suffered casualties when large sections of roof fell on them right after their arrival.