Police investigate collapse

The deadliest toll from a building collapse in Prague for more than 40 years could have resulted in a higher casualty figure as students were studying in a building next to it, according to a witness.

The bodies of four workers were recovered after a three-story building, undergoing construction work on Soukenická street in New Town, collapsed Oct. 2 in the worst tragedy of its type since 1965. A large section of the top floor had given way, smashing through floors beneath.

Police have launched a criminal investigation. If negligence in construction oversight is proved, the guilty parties could face up to 10 years in jail.

A spokesman for Sting, the construction company, said it would make an official statement later in the week. There have been fears that some construction firms leave buildings to deteriorate as reconstruction is usually easier and more cost-effective than restoration, especially in Prague's historic center.

"It is a common policy of developers to opt for reconstruction, deliberately leaving the building to deteriorate so they can totally reconstruct it without keeping the original historic parts of the building," which are more costly to restore, Josef Štulc, head of restoration on architecture at the National Institute for Historical Monuments told The Prague Post.

"There are countless cases of this in Prague's historical city center," he added.

Firefighters had to battle against unstable rubble and masonry as they searched for bodies or potential survivors.

 "All the bodies were recovered after fire-fighters went in and spent two days sifting through rubble," Prague fire department spokesman Vít Pernica said. "It was difficult because we could not use heavy equipment in case there were people still alive under the rubble."

The building collapsed just before 1 p.m. Nearby offices and residences were immediately evacuated. The first two bodies were recovered at 10 p.m. Oct. 3, and the other two in the early hours of Oct. 4. Two of the victims were Ukrainian, and two were Bulgarian.

Police cordoned off the street, and discouraged onlookers as fears over the safety of the shell structure mounted. Despite this, nearby businesses, including an English-language school adjoining the damaged building, remained open.

A witness believed it was sheer chance that more people weren't killed in the collapse.

"I was working in the language school just before lunch Friday when my whole building shook," said one secretary who did not want to be identified. "We thought our building was going to collapse. Then police came in and demanded we get out immediately. They went through all the floors screaming at people to get out. Luckily, we had just let about 30 students out for their lunch break maybe five minutes before then."

An engineer also requesting anonymity said if the outside walls of the building had also fallen, instead of just the floors collapsing onto themselves, the death toll could have been much higher. "If you see the building now, there is nothing holding up the outside walls. A gust of wind could knock them down. It was just good fortune more people weren't killed, especially if the walls had fallen onto the street."

This is the highest death toll from a building collapse in Prague since four people died and another five were injured when a residential house in Prague 4-Pankrác collapsed in December 1965.

The worst construction accident in Prague occurred in October 1928, when a seven-story partially built house collapsed, killing 46 people.

Tom Clifford can be reached at
tclifford@praguepost.com