Putin vows to punish culprits in Moscow water park disaster

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Tuesday, February 17, 2004

Putin vows to punish culprits in Moscow water park disaster

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday pledged to punish those responsible for the weekend roof collapse at a Moscow water park that claimed at least 25 lives and injured over 110.

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Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday pledged to punish those responsible for the weekend roof collapse at a Moscow water park that claimed at least 25 lives and injured over 110.

Expressing his condolences to the families of the victims, Putin noted that the tragedy "is a terrible shock for all of us," according to a statement by the presidential press service.

The Russian leader promised that the accident would be thoroughly investigated and "the guilty must be punished."

The concrete-and-glass dome, with the size of a soccer field, caved in from a height of 20 meters on Saturday evening. An estimated 352 people were in the pool area right below the roof and up to 800 people were in the Transvaal Park in the southwestern suburbs of Moscow.

Moscow Deputy Prosecutor Vladimir Yudin estimated on Monday that four or five people remain trapped under the debris at the site, which may increase the current death toll that includes seven children, Interfax news agency reported.

Workers on Monday stopped looking for survivors and are clearing up the rubble at the site of the park. Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov said there has been no hope that those trapped could be rescued alive.

Denying that a terrorist explosion had caused the roof cave-in, Russian officials believed that defective construction was the major cause of the disaster rather than the earlier speculations of heavy snow accumulated on the roof or sharp difference between the inside and outside temperatures.

The State Construction Committee has suspended the licenses of the Turkish construction company Kocak Insaat, which built the indoor entertainment complex, and Russian architectural firm that designed it. Yudin said his office has confiscated documents from companies involved in construction of the water park.

Russian prosecutors have opened a criminal investigation into any possible failure to fulfill "professional obligations."

Preliminary conclusions on the causes for the roof cave-in are expected to come out by the end of the week, but it may take several months to complete the investigation into the case, said Yudin.

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