Apathy & Assumptions: The Katowice Trade Hall Collapse

in 2006 corner-cutting negligence and willful ignorance led to one of poland's largest building collapses of modern history [Music] when attending a sold-out exhibition with large crowds in a well-frequented popular modern arena rarely is the stability of the structure around you of any real concern during the 7th annual international trade fair of racing pigeons an event drawing hundreds of tourists families and children at roughly 5 15 p.m on january 28 2006 the katavitsa trade hall's roof collapsed within the span of an instant gorbachev tear down this wall president bush's spokesman called the prospect of a non-communist government in poland a history-making occurrence [Applause] [Music] since 1992 poland's economy has been on the upswing with few signs of slowing even during the pandemic there was only a slight downturn for 2020 compared to many of its neighbors this near 30-year long trend hasn't been by accident the baltirowitz plan was born out of an economy that since the 70s was dire by the late 80s the iron grip of the soviets had failed poland and her people dire shortages of food basic goods essentials all had become the norm as the plan was drawn up by a commission in 1989 combined with the toppling of communism altogether in warsaw that same year as well as the solidarity movement that gained strength throughout the 80s this was a country more than prepared to take matters into their own hands after the fall of communism and the dissolution of the soviet union many eastern european states were left to their own devices poland's solidarity movement which had started in the early 80s had long been galvanizing many of the country's workers and laborers already towards a more democratic capitalistic vision of the future poland had no desire to hesitate in its transition out of that communistic state-owned centrally planned economy and into a model of capitalism that wasn't just looking the part poland wanted this transition to happen as quickly and from an economic standpoint aggressively and effectively as possible the balsarowitz plan after all was considered shock therapy for the economy [Music] the economic boom that followed these events technically started in 1992 when poland's gdp was officially back on the rise and by 96 it exploded unemployment rates government debt all dropping significantly regardless of political affiliation status or class though these economies on the upswing with people and infrastructure scrambling to keep up with positive growth can inadvertently create an environment where regulations are skirted costs cut irresponsibly and bad actors can take advantage for the sake of a quick bump in the pocketbook even in places where regulations seem to be taken seriously no country state or government is fully immune to corruption and greed in katowice a city of roughly 300 000 in the south of poland like so many other metro areas of the country this growth was in full swing structurally economically and socially it was an environment where the new freedom of movement across europe was creating tourism booms gatherings events and much of these community activities required indoor event centers tenors as they came to be known to some at the time were cheap hastily constructed locations that served as the newly needed warehouses gyms event centers community centers and other similar open space structures where vast high ceilings were needed although this trend wasn't just limited to poland it was the 56th annual national exhibition of carrier pigeons and the seventh annual katavitsa international racing pigeon fair which would bring exhibitors families and enthusiasts together from all over europe united by a common interest in this wholesome activity that dates back thousands of years poland was extremely proud of its katavitsa international fairgrounds known in polish as the mtk built in the late 90s it was constructed with every facility in mind that would be needed to host many of the country's larger exhibition events as is typical for this part of poland it was a cold snowy january weekend that the pigeon fair would be held in katowice it's reported that hundreds were gathered at anywhere from five to seven hundred plus exhibitors delegates and children and over one thousand birds on display it made for a bustling crowded saturday event at roughly 5 15 on the evening of the 28th the roof over the main portion of the event center would collapse suddenly and without warning it's reported that temperatures outside were also down to roughly minus 15 celsius and even minus 20 celsius this was a catastrophe the local rescuers who were on scene immediately began to aid in any way they could it's reported that at roughly 60 to 90 minutes after the first collapse took place a secondary collapse followed putting everyone at further risk it was later reported by survivors that they witnessed many panicked victims struggling with what appeared to be locked emergency exits and others resorting to breaking windows in their desperation to exit quickly as hundreds of rescuers descended upon the collapsed structure teams from local police and fire departments along with mining and mountain rescue units as well from the surrounding regions harsh winter conditions were making a bad situation worse slowing these rescue efforts considerably military units rescue dogs emts every rescuer involved was in a desperate battle against the not precarious structure the elements and the clock as the injured the victims any trap survivors would soon succumb to hypothermia in an attempt to stave off this hypothermia rescuers were prepped to implement large industrial hot air jets to try and heat the general area however many snow piles that had spilled down from the roof in the collapse were supporting much of the wreckage by that point and melting this snow risked causing the wreckage to settle which could crush and collapse further onto trapped victims on the afternoon of sunday the 29th search and rescue efforts were ceased as the chances of survival trapped in the frigid temperatures by that point nearly 24 hours later were near zero recovery efforts with heavy equipment commenced in the final deceased victims to be pulled from the rubble it's reported were recovered on the 11th and 14th of february this would mark the 64th and 65th victims lost and 170 plus injured total by that point this number of deceased included both poles and tourists from hungary the netherlands germany the czech republic belgium and slovakia both the president and prime minister of poland at the time declared three national days of mourning lasting until february 1st it was determined heavy snow accumulations brought the trade center's roof down but in an area where snow accumulations like this weren't out of the ordinary a steel truss building through proper design snow removal and maintenance shouldn't have this sort of issue something much more disturbing was at play here on february 21st three individuals were taken into custody by polish authorities the new zealand-born chairman and director of expo media the company that owned the majority share in the fairgrounds along with the deputy chairman of the board and the company's technical manager company documents and emails over 200 witness interviews along with the collapse itself these investigations produced some pretty damning results to say the least it's important to note also that the individuals detained were denied bail as they had reportedly been found destroying documents immediately after the collapse prosecutors found and reports conflict but in either 2000 or 2002 the roof of the trade hall had buckled and nearly collapsed even then due to heavy snow accumulations and management's refusal to perform routine roof snow removal they also chose not to report this to building inspectors as required by polish law and proceeded with only the bare minimum of emergency repairs it was neither calculated tested or determined in any way after this incident to be deemed either stable or even safe in june of 2006 four months after the initial arrests more arrests were made the hall's original designing architects construction specialists and more prosecutors armed with reports and findings from building and construction experts found compromises and amendments had been made in the original construction of the trade hall in an effort too and you can probably guess it cut costs these unapproved changes to the building's plans created a roof trust structure that would be revealed later to have contributed directly to the speed and suddenness of the collapse these individuals were also fully aware of the previous roof buckling issue and similarly they also made little to no effort toward a proper resolution at the time emails on computers seized in the arrest revealed the board of directors were fully aware of the previous issues and had even received and ignored one expert's recommendation in the past to perform routine roof snow removal along with suggesting the building's design be inspected investigators concluded it was this original incorrect design in an effort toward cheaper construction that was the primary reason for this catastrophe along with the refusal to perform snow removal similar collapses took place between january and february that same year 2006 in other portions of europe a snow-covered town hall's roof collapsed in austria a snow-covered roof at a skating rink collapsed in germany claiming the lies of 15 a snow-covered roof at a moscow food market collapsed in december of 2005 the snow-covered roof of an indoor community pool in the urals of russia collapsed claiming the lives of 14 10 of which being children of the indictments sought by the district public prosecutor one architect received a nine-year sentence one board member had his sentence reduced to two years expo media's technical manager was sentenced to 18 months and two construction experts were sentenced to two years each this is what i was able to find and corroborate in my research in a shocking twist it appears that the new zealand-born chairman of expo media's case could still be ongoing to this day since as of november 2019 appeals acquittals and retrials were still ongoing while he remains jailed in poland we stumbled into an interesting one here folks and according to this eighth annual katavitsa pigeon fair website it appears as though the gathering took place again a year later at the same site and historical imagery shows the main building completely leveled by 2009 the address from the website shows this building here so maybe the event was downsized to fit into different buildings for the time all i can do is speculate at this point the memorial to the victims can be found nearby the remnants of the demolished trade hall hey everyone thanks for watching many of my collapse videos they're released at a bit of a different interval than my other videos you may have noticed so it's just something to keep in mind they take a lot more time and a lot more research to put together i really appreciate all the support from everyone from the patrons the members all the mortar supporters it literally helps keep this channel going so if you enjoy my content it helps the channel massively to like subscribe tell your friends share all that good stuff this has been sam with brick and mortar thanks so much for watching [Music]

Channel: Brick Immortar

Views: 259,776

Keywords: katowice trade hall roof collapse, expomedia katowice trial, expomedia indictment, largest disaster poland, polish disasters, katowice mtk, mtk katowice katastrofa, collapse series, brick immortal collapse series, poland building collapse, pomnik ofiar mtk, pigeon fair disaster, building disasters, structural collapse

Id: 3RX6YlIStvg

Length: 11min 35sec (695 seconds)

Published: Wed May 12 2021