Polish authorities last night said they had concluded the search for survivors under the twisted wreckage of an exhibition hall that collapsed during a racing pigeon show, killing at least 66 people and injuring 160, writes Derek Scally in Katowice.
"The rescue operation is over," said Krzysztof Mejer, a spokesman for the government of the Silesia region. Thirteen rescue dogs from Poland and the neighbouring Czech Republic indicated that there were no more bodies in the debris.
"We can confirm 66 people were killed and we don't expect anyone else to be found under the wreckage," he said.
The tragedy occurred on Saturday in Katowice, 70km (43 miles) west of Krakow, when the roof of the hall collapsed during a fair for pigeon fanciers and breeders from Poland, Germany, Belgium and the Czech Republic. International rescue teams in Katowice criticised poor organisation and political interference in the rescue effort.
A German team of the urban search and rescue had arrived from Cologne with three tonnes of rescue equipment and five sniffer dogs, but team leader Frank Schultes said the Polish authorities declined to use the equipment and had left them sitting around for eight hours.
"The Poles seem to have given up already," said Mr Schultes (32), who has just returned from the Pakistan earthquake rescue effort. He said people there survived for 126 hours under the rubble.
"We got permission to come and drove 13 hours with 22 guys. Now the Polish government said we cannot work here and we’re sitting around drinking tea."
Yesterday afternoon a dozen pigeons perched atop the crumpled blue and grey corrugated facade in the snow-covered industrial estate. Red candles and a bouquet of lilies with a ribbon reading "Goodbye" lay at railings in front of the hall.
Visible through a hole in the facade was daylight where, 24 hours earlier, the roof hall had been. It buckled at 5.15pm on Saturday, apparently under the weight of snow in an accident similar to that in a Bavarian ice-skating rink that left 15 dead earlier this month. More than 140 people were rushed to hospital and many more were treated for shock.
"First I heard a sound like cracking metal. Then I saw pieces of the roof starting to fall and I had a memory flash of that accident in Germany," said Czeslaw Cabaj (53), from Jelenia Gora, near the Czech border.
"I just grabbed my friend and shouted ‘out, out’." One of his friends, German breeder Hans Linzer, was last night still waiting for news of missing colleagues. "We ran head over heels for the door in about 10 seconds when panic broke out," said Mr Linzer (64).