Today marks 19 years since one of the worst disasters in Poland in recent history.
On January 28th 2006, an exhibition hall collapsed on International Katowice Fair ground between the Silesian cities of Katowice and Chorzów. At the time, a carrier pigeon exhibition was taking place, gathering many enthusiasts of the popular hobby. People were buried under a tangled mass of steel, and exposed to freezing cold, as disaster happened in the middle of winter, when temperatures at night could drop to nearly -20*C.
Rescue efforts began as soon as the first frantic calls reached the emergency centers. Some of them actually came from those who could not get out of the building's ruins; cellular phones were becoming increasingly popular in the 2000s, also allowing the rescuers to find the victims by listening to the phones ringing in their pockets, as their friends and relatives tried to find out their whereabouts.
As the disaster happened in the highly industrialised Upper Silesia, present at the disaster site were not only firefighters and medical crews, but more specialised units such as the Central Mining Rescue Group, trained to search and rescue miners in collapsed coal mines. Unfortunately, the instability of the ruins forced the rescuers to rely on handheld tools, but that did not deter them from venturing down the tight corners of the disaster area, searching for victims. Dogs were brought to sniff the survivors under the rubble and snow, and heavy equipment was used to stabilise the ruins of the hall, or to blow heated air into areas where survivors were expected to be found. The rescue lasted until January 29th, when it became apparent that no one left in the ruins is still alive.
In total, the disaster claimed 65 lives; 55 of them were from Poland, and 10 were foreigners from Czechia, Slovakia, Germany, and one each from Belgium, the Netherlands and Hungary. It was the worst disaster in Poland by death toll since the Kabaty air crash in 1987, which killed 183 people (though two events came close - the sinking of MF Jan Heweliusz in 1993 which killed 55, and the 1997 flood which claimed 57 lives), and the worst one so far in the 21st century. Post-mortem examinations showed that not a single victim froze to death in the ruins, and instead all of them were killed at the moment of the collapse. 170 people sustained injuries, including serious head and torso traumas, lacerations and frostbite. Also killed were numerous pigeons, though many escaped their destroyed cages and flew away, and were later found all over the country as they tried to return home. President Lech Kaczyński (who himself would die four years later in the Smolensk air crash which killed 96 people) declared three days of national mourning as a sign of respect to the deceased.
The disaster and rescue efforts, broadcast live on radio and television, once again brought Polish people together, in a nationwide drive to help the victims by any means necessary, most prevalent of which were blood donations and monetary support.
The investigation focused on several possible causes of the disaster: ground sinking as a result of mining in the area, bad weather, and construction faults. In the end, it was found that it was a combination of errors made by the designers and constructors of the exhibition hall, which were further exacerbated by heavy snowfall which occurred that winter. Moreover, it was suspected that the roof might have already been damaged before the disaster, as some of the exhibitors remembered water leaking from the ceiling in certain areas. Several people were brought to justice: owners of Katowice Fair, who failed to properly maintain the building, the main architect for drafting faulty blueprints, and local building inspectors who did not recommend the closure of the hall, despite knowing about the potential risks.
The remnants of the hall were demolished, and a memorial was erected close to where it once stood. It lists 65 names of the victims, and on top of it several brass pigeons are flying up, both as a symbol of the deceased, and as a remembrance of the event during which the disaster struck.
The pictures of the disaster site and the monument were taken by me last Saturday, three days before the anniversary.
