MOSCOW, February 23 (RIA Novosti) - The Moscow Mayor confirmed Thursday that there were no Muscovites among victims of a roof collapse at the Basmanny market in the center of the Russian capital. "So far, no Muscovites have been registered among either dead or rescued people," Yury Luzhkov said, adding that at this point the death toll had reached 21 people.
At the same time, the mayor said the excessive amount of snow on the roof could hardly be considered the cause of the tragedy because it was evenly spread over the surface and its thickness did not exceed 40-45 centimeters.
"The pressure on the roof was not excessive and there was sufficient water drainage," Luzhkov said. "Therefore, there is no point considering excessive amount of snow as the cause [of the accident]."
He added that the drainage system had been recently inspected and passed the tests.
The latest report from the emergency situations ministry put the number of people killed by the collapsed roof at 27.
