Roof collapse in Poland kills 65

Rescuers searched in bitter cold yesterday for victims buried when the roof of an exhibition hall in southern Poland collapsed on a racing pigeon show, killing at least 65 people and injuring 160.

The death toll rose steadily early yesterday as rescuers dug through the debris of the building, which collapsed at around 5:30pm on Saturday in the city of Katowice.

Tadeusz Dlugosz was dragged out of the twisted wreckage of the building, only to find out his 26-year-old son, who had been visiting another exhibit when the hall roof collapsed, had been killed.

Yesterday morning he remained at the site of the tragedy, trying to find out where his son's body had been taken.

"It was his idea to come to the fair ... and he found his grave there," Dlugosz said. "I don't know which morgue he's in. I would like to see him and take him as quickly as possible."

At least 65 people were killed, said Krzysztof Mejer, a spokesman for the government of the Silesia region.

Among the dead were a police officer who was providing security for the exhibition, said police spokesman Janusz Jonczyk, adding that there were at least 160 people injured.

Up to 500 people were in the exhibition center when the roof fell in. People trapped in the wreckage used cellphones to call relatives or emergency services and tell them where they were.

People who escaped said two emergency exits were open, but other exits were locked, leaving others trapped.

Franciszek Kowal, who got out onto a terrace and jumped about 4m to safety, saw people struggling to break windows to escape.

"Luckily nothing happened to me, but I saw a macabre scene, as people tried to break windows in order to get out," Kowal said.

"People were hitting the panes with chairs, but the windows were unbreakable. One of the panes finally broke, and they started to get out by the window," she said.

The hopes of finding survivors faded after no one had been found alive since 10pm on Saturday in minus 17?C cold, and crews who had been using only hand tools to pick through the wreckage were preparing to step up the operation.

"Officials are at the scene now to see if heavy equipment can be brought in," Mejer said.

Polish Prime Minister Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz joined hundreds of other mourners packing Katowice's Cathedral of Christ the King yesterday morning for a special mass being celebrated by Archbishop Damian Zimon for the victims of the tragedy.

A visibly exhausted Janusz Skulich, head of the Silesia region fire brigade, said "it can't be excluded" that rescuers will find the dead "over the next few days" by using special equipment to get to places they couldn't now reach.

"We know they aren't alive, but we can't reach them," he said. "We will be able to reach them when the whole construction will be systematically pulled down."

"The likelihood that we will find people alive down there is almost zero," Skulich said on TVN24.

Police said snow caused the roof to collapse.