1 dead after FC Twente stadium collapse

[faceless]

One dead, 14 injured after FC Twente roof collapses
One person has been killed and a further 16 have been injured after a section of the roof at FC Twente's De Grolsch Veste stadium in Enschede collapsed this afternoon.
7 Jul 2011

The incident occurred at 12.03 pm local time and construction workers, involved in the redevelopment of the stadium, were initially trapped beneath the wreckage at the southern end of the ground. Everyone involved in construction work at the stadium today has now been accounted for but the police are now ensuring that no-one else is still trapped who may have been on site for some other reason.

A local government spokeswoman for the city of Enschede told the Press Association: "There are 14 people injured and unfortunately there is one fatal injury, in addition to the 14 injuries. Ten people were treated in hospital and two of those people were severely injured. The exact nature of the injuries I cannot tell you at the moment." Asked about the possibility of people still being trapped, the spokeswoman added: "Everyone is out to our knowledge. People are still searching with dogs and specialist camera teams, but that is as an extra precaution, a double-check."

Ilse Hoekstra, a spokeswoman on the scene, later told Press Association Sport that two further injured people had made their own way to hospital suffering from bone fractures, taking the total known number of injured to 16. FC Twente posted a statement on their official website, http://www.fctwente.nl, which read: "During the renovation work at the Grolsch Veste the roof of the building collapsed. Our thoughts are with everyone involved." The club confirmed that their friendly match against Zeeuws Elftal on Saturday had been cancelled.

The roof is reported to have collapsed after two support beams buckled, although the reason why this happened is not yet known. Hoekstra said a representative from the Dutch public prosecution service, the Openbaar Ministerie, had been sent from nearby Almelo to launch an investigation into the cause of the collapse. Pictures taken from outside the ground, which lies to the north-west of the centre of the city of Enschede, showed a large section of the roof had come down. The structure had fallen onto a bank of red seats already in place behind the goal. Elsewhere, twisted metal lay hanging over the edge of the corner of the stand, with a building site below.

The construction work was being carried out as part of the club's development of their stadium to an arena holding more than 30,000. The capacity was just 13,500 when the Enschede side moved to the venue in 1998. Twente are due to play in the the third qualifying round of the Champions League with their first home match due to be played on July 26-27 or Aug 2-3. The exact date will be decided next week.