Market crash

Exactly two years after the tragedy in the Transvaal Park, a new man-made disaster struck Moscow. At about 5 am on February 23, the massive round roof of Basmanny Market, unable to withstand the loads, rapidly collapsed down. Despite the early hour, there were hundreds of people in the building - at this time the market itself is preparing to open, and small wholesalers from the surrounding shops come there to stock up on goods for the day. In one second, the reinforced concrete floor buried 60 people under it, and those who survived ended up in a stone bag - the remains of the roof lay on top of the main walls.

Soon a fire broke out in the ruins of the building. It lasted an hour and did not allow rescuers to start work. They searched for survivors under the rubble for almost a day. There were about 30 of them. The city authorities promised to provide material assistance to the relatives of all the victims, regardless of their citizenship (the victims of the collapse were citizens of Azerbaijan, Tajikistan, Armenia, Georgia and Ukraine).

The possibility of a terrorist attack as a version of what happened was rejected almost immediately. Mayor Luzhkov immediately suggested that snow accumulated on the roof was to blame, but Moscow prosecutor Anatoly Zuev announced as many as three probable causes of the disaster: violation of the rules for the operation of the structure, poor control of its current state, or a design miscalculation in the design. The owners of the market will have to answer for the first two. On the third - to architects, and it, apparently, will be considered most meticulously; at least, specialists of the Ministry of Emergency Situations are already leaning towards it.

Like the collapsed Transvaal, the round pavilion of the market on Baumanskaya was erected according to the project of Nodar Kancheli. In the case of the collapse of the water park, the prosecutor's office has already made him the main defendant, and now - a new reason for suspicion. "I really have no idea why this happened," Kancheli told Newsweek. Commenting on the “snow” version of Yuri Luzhkov, he only recalled that 30 years ago, the norms for maximum loads were one and a half times lower than today. “I was the chief designer of this facility. He also had other bosses, but they have all died, what can I do now? says the architect.

But he already has at least one objective justification. The fact is that after the tragedy in Yasenevo, the Moscow authorities specially checked all the buildings designed by Kancheli and recognized them as completely safe. Among them was the Basmanny market.