Investigation continues into Saturday’s pool tragedy, when the giant glass roof of the Transvaal water park in south-west Moscow collapsed, killing 25 people. It was established on Monday that the roof of the Transvaal water caved in following the collapse of a column supporting the roof. The column could have broken because of the deformation of the foundations or a point explosion, the Kommersant newspaper reports. Moments before the blast an external video surveillance system recorded a cloud of dust near the base of the column.
At the start of the investigation, most experts blamed a faulty roof design. They said there were mistakes in the design, the construction and maintenance of the roof. However, none of this theories has been confirmed yet.
Meanwhile, investigators have achieved some progress. Quoting its sources in the Moscow Prosecutor’s Office, the Kommersant says experts are now examining the foundations of the building and underlying soil, and not the design of the roof. In particular, they established that the water park had been built in a rather unsuitable location from a geological point of view. There used to be several powerful underground springs and ravines at the site, which were later filled in. So, a well-designed water complex could have been built on shaky foundations – filled, waterlogged soil, which was slumping gradually under the heavy weight.
Ismail Kocak, the owner of the Turkish construction company Kocak Insaat, responsible for the construction of the water park, does not agree. He told the Kommersant there had been soil problems, but that the bad soil was removed, an 8 meter foundation pit was dug and filled with concrete. “Even an eight-story building can be built on such foundations,” he said.
However, investigators say ground deformation processes took place. “We have seen huge cracks in the foundations of the building,” prosecutors told the newspaper. And these cracks appeared not on February 16 but a few months earlier,” they added. This theory is also confirmed by the records of the video surveillance system, installed around the perimeter of the water park.
On Monday, several meetings were held at the Kurortproyekt design institute. Engineers, including Nodar Kancheli, who designed the roof of the water complex, were examining the design of the roof. They say they checked all parameters, and the roof could not have collapsed by itself. Engineers say they have no ideas why the roof caved in. The design of the roof was safe, according to them, and perhaps construction and maintenance mistakes are to blame.