Posted on 05/23/2004 12:23:09 AM PDT by dennis1x
nothing follows
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Did this collaspe happen without warning, or were warnings ignored? Hmmm...
I heard on one of the news nets this morning that there were already safety concerns with that terminal, and that there were worries French transpo officials had rushed completion of the terminal. It's only 11 months old, right?
Six Killed in Paris Airport Roof Collapse
Sun May 23, 2004 06:55 AM ET - By Kerstin GehmlichPARIS (Reuters) - Six people were killed when a roof collapsed at a new terminal at Roissy-Charles de Gaulle international airport near Paris Sunday, triggering a search for trapped survivors and questions about safety.
Slabs of concrete and metal crashed onto a seated waiting area in the less than one-year-old showcase terminal 2E just before 7 a.m., bringing down a raised walkway at one of the world's busiest airports.
The collapse left a hole of 50 meters by 30 meters in the long, tunnel-like building. Rescue workers with dogs searched through glass, concrete and metal and listened for anyone trapped underneath.
"Time is a factor. We have to get to the injured as quickly as possible," said Paris fire brigade spokesman Laurent Vibert.
"It seems to have happened very quickly some people heard a noise before it happened.
Another fire-fighter said: "It's like a scene after an earthquake."
The French government ruled out a terror attack but said the cause of the accident was unknown.
Most victims were believed to be passengers arriving or waiting to depart at the busy terminal, while three policemen were hurt. Ambulances and fire brigade vehicles rushed to and from the terminal as the injured were ferried to hospital.
Michel Sapin, prefect of the local St Denis community, confirmed six deaths and said three others were badly hurt. He said the toll of dead and injured could rise to about 12.
"Luckily there was not too much traffic at the time of the incident," he told reporters at the airport, adding planes were arriving from the United States and Johannesburg at the time and one was leaving for Prague.
One of the injured was Chinese and another was from Ivory Coast, he said.
Officials said they did not know what caused the collapse at a terminal which opened only last summer at a cost of $900 million. It opened late, partly because a commission at first withheld a safety certificate.
"Some people heard cracks before the accident and there was concrete dust coming from the ceiling. This was a very prestigious hall and it's a very hard day for us today," said Pierre Graff, chairman of Aeroports de Paris (ADP), the Paris airports authority.
He said all lines of inquiry would be pursued.
President Jacques Chirac expressed his condolences and demanded a thorough investigation. Transport Minister Gilles de Robien, who visited the airport with Interior Minister Dominique de Villepin, ruled out the possibility it was a terror attack.
Other terminals were still open at the airport but road traffic built up outside the airport.
Terminal 2E is mainly used by national carrier Air France but also by other international airlines and has more than 50 flights a day.
"We will adapt our flights depending on how long the terminal is closed. Today it is not too problematic as flight arrivals and departures are being pushed onto other terminals," Air France spokesman Jean-Claude Couturier said.
© Reuters 2004. All Rights Reserved.
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=5227283
That's no "roof collapse". That's complete structural failure. This ought to be an interesting investigation.
How typical!
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3739715.stm
Terminal 2E cost 750m euros to build and was opened in 2003. It is used by Air France and the Sky Team alliance.
The opening of the terminal was delayed by a week last year when a security team refused to give the go-ahead.
The Paris airport group (ADP) said at the time that a large lamp had fallen from the ceiling just as the team of engineers, architects and firefighters had been inspecting the site.
did it get Michael Moore
Leaving them in the uncomfortable position of having no one to surrender to...
Not a good sign. Run!
Socialism.
Yeah, that worked REAL well for Princess Diana.
And they (French) wanted to be a part of the rebuilding of Iraq. Yeah, right.
Anyone ready to fly on the new Airbus A380?
Next, I’m going to be told they are going to name an aircraft after Charles de Gaulle.
The Alan Parsons Project? A Band? I thought that was a plan to put a friggin' laser on the moon.
Look again. Seems that the floor, which bears most of the weight is intact. That sexy bowed structure has to place enormous stresses on the joints at the base. They may need to shore up the structure with flying buttresses, a la Notre Dame, before the snows of yesteryear.
If I had to guess, I'd say the structural engineers were overuled by the architects and bureaucrats on some issue regarding strength at that point; didn't want it to be bulky looking, didn't want any butressing...ruin the look, you know?
So the SEs had to go with a lower safety factor at that point; you fold that in with some construction 'irregularities', a few months of use for something to get vibrated loose and finally, a heavy load day, and Voila!
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