Two die as shed in Czech industrial area collapses

Two people died and three suffered severe injuries when an unused shed collapsed in the Poldi Kladno industrial area this morning, squeezing several men in the ruins, local police spokeswoman told CTK.

The victims were aged 23 and 26.

The rescuers’ previous information about four dead victims has not been confirmed.
One man with a light injury managed to get out of the ruins by himself. He received medical treatment and doctors released him home, the spokeswoman, Jana Steinerova, said.

Rescuers with sniffer dogs ended the search of the ruins earlier this afternoon after the police found out that only the above mentioned six people were in the shed when it collapsed.

The three severaly injured men have been rushed in hospital. One of them, aged 47, was helicoptered to a hospital in the nearby capital of Prague with head, chest and shinbone injuries.

The other two stay in the Kladno hospital. One, also aged 47, had his leg crushed and doctors had to partly amputate it.

The remaining injured person is a 14-year-old boy with an open leg fracture who doctors are going to operate on.

Regional firefighters’ spokesman Ladislav Krivan said that the shed’s overall dimensions were 200 x 300 metres. The collapsed part involved some 20 x 50 metres, he said.
Steinerova said the steel-structure shed has not been used in the past period.

Everything indicates that the victims were illegally dismantling the abandoned shed to steal iron when the building collapsed.

Kladno Mayor Dan Jiranek told CTK that someone had attempted to dismantle the shed. On Friday evening, the municipal police intervened on the spot, evicting twenty people who were cutting off steel from the shed structure.

They returned to the spot at night and continued in their efforts. "This is a disaster but mainly a big irresponsibility of these people." Jiranek said.

Three medical crews, including a rescue helicopter are assisting on the spot.

Dozens of local residents are watching the rescue works. Most of them are Romanies, probably relatives and friends of the accident victims.

They confirmed to CTK that local men regularly went to take iron away from abandoned sheds in the area of Poldi Kladno, a former significant metallurgic plant.

"The Romanies are unemployed. How should they earn their livings? They are young people, they did not manage to support their families," a stander-by told CTK.