MOSCOW, February 23 (RIA Novosti) - A grand-scale rescue operation involving 500 workers is currently under way at the Basmanny market in the center of Moscow where a roof collapse on Thursday morning killed at least 21 people and injured about 24, an emergency situations ministry official said. "We have deployed all our local and federal resources, about 500 rescue workers," Andrei Legoshin said. "We have enough people and equipment." "There are still people who are alive under the debris," he said. "We can hear their voices and the dogs indicate the same." Legoshin said there could be as many as 40 more people under the rubble.
"Nobody knows how many people are still under the collapsed roof," the official said. "The operation will continue until all people have been rescued."
Legoshin also said the accident at the market resembled the Transvaal Park tragedy in Moscow on February 14, 2004.
"It is very similar to what happened in the Transvaal Park," he said. "The roof collapsed around the entire perimeter of the building, smashing booths, counters, everything that was under it."
The official could not specify the length of the rescue operation at this point.
