Cyprus theatre roof crashes down one day before children's s

repulsewarrior · Deputy Joined: 06 Jan 2006 Posts: 1771 Location: Canada

Probe team visits collapsed THOK roof
By Leo Leonidou

THE PROBE into the collapse of the roof of the Nicosia Municipal Theatre officially began this week, with the team carrying out their initial site inspections.

The aim is to find out what exactly happened on June 11, after most of the seating area was crushed, only three years after a €5.5 million renovation project.

Thankfully the theatre was closed at the time, with the venue booked to host hundreds of schoolchildren for an end-of-year performance 24 hours later.

On June 18, the Cabinet appointed a three-man investigative committee to look into the incident. Heading the committee is Giorgos Ioannides, a Professor in the School of Civil Engineering at the National Metsovio Polytechnic in Greece. Committee members include civil engineers Costas Meletiou and Panicos Papadopoulos.

Yesterday, the team climbed on a special crane to inspect the top of the building, with evidence taken away from the scene.

“Our work has begun and on Thursday afternoon we visited the site for the first time before undertaking an aerial inspection on Friday,” said Ioannides.

The trio have already met with Nicosia Mayor Eleni Mavrou, during which the exact work that will take place was discussed.

“The committee will have all the powers in accordance with the law to undertake the investigation of the causes that led to the collapse of the Nicosia Municipal Theatre roof and any possible negligence or responsibility,” Government Spokesman Stefanos Stefanou said at the time the committee was appointed.

He added that President Demetris Christofias had given clear instructions that the committee’s report be submitted to the Education Ministry as soon as possible.

“The President of the Republic has given clear instructions and orders that responsibility is apportioned where it is due and of course for those who are guilty to be punished… the intention is for the investigation to be concluded as soon as possible,” Stefanou said.

ETEK Technical Chamber President Christos Efthivoulou has said that the Chamber, “is interested in a thorough investigation so we can scientifically prove what led to the roof’s collapse.”

According to Ioannides, “the investigation is expected to run for the next six months due to the huge workload involved and we will make every attempt to stick to this timeframe.”

He added that special care will be taken while working on the site as it may not be structurally sound.”

The police have also interviewed theatre employees, technicians and members of the renovation team as part of the enquiry.

Copyright © Cyprus Mail 2008

repulsewarrior · Deputy Joined: 06 Jan 2006 Posts: 1771 Location: Canada

MPs fail to extract information on theatre collapse
By Jacqueline Theodoulou

A PARLIAMENTARY discussion on the reasons behind the collapse of the roof at the Nicosia Municipal Theatre yesterday failed to shed light on the issue.

The reason was because there was still an on-going investigation into the matter, which limited what the parliamentary guests could or couldn’t say.

Former Nicosia Mayors Lellos Demetriades and Michalakis Zambelas were among those invited to the joint meeting by the House Education and Watchdog Committees, and both were very careful with what they told deputies, even after incessant questioning.

Zambelas submitted his police statements to the committees but refrained from commenting further.

The only hint emerged when deputy Nicosia mayor Stelios Ieronimides, who also worked with the two previous mayors, let slip that there was probably no static survey for THOK’s roof while the theatre’s renovation was being planned.

Ieronimides said the Nicosia Municipal Council had never been informed on “anything regarding the roof”, adding that there was only written correspondence between the municipality and the construction’s surveyor on how to renovate the roof.

Education Minister Andreas Demetriou, whose ministry is in charge of the National Theatre THOK, which was housed at the theatre, said the Investigative Committee was expected to announce its conclusions in mid January.

“Anything more said on the issue would be pointless,” he told reporters after the meeting.

DISY’s Nicos Tornaritis, who chairs the Education Committee, explained that the main aim of getting to the bottom of the “tragic event” was to pave the way for better handling of public tenders and an improvement of safety regulations in public buildings in order to avert similar incidents in the future.

The theatre’s roof collapsed back in June. Miraculously, it was closed on the night, and no one was hurt in the accident, which crushed almost the entire seating area. Twenty-four hours later, the theatre was booked to host hundreds of schoolchildren for an end-of-year performance.

Speaking after the meeting, the Chairman of the Watchdog Committee, Costas Constantinou of DISY, said it was too soon to reach any safe conclusions.

“This is an issue that concerns the Investigative Committee,” he said, adding that his committee would continue to observe the situation and pose questions when deemed necessary.

“The issue remains open,” he continued. “It appears that a serious error has taken place, which raises issues relating to the possible mishandling and squandering of public money.”

Constantinou brushed away reporters’ indications that it was too soon to call for a parliamentary meeting on the matter. “We are not superseding the Investigation Committee’s orders; we asked to be informed and through this procedure we believe we will be given the opportunity to spot any possible issues relating to mishandling, discrepancies and non-implementation of the laws on public tenders,” said Constantinou.

A less impressed Andros Kyprianou called on the Committee Chairman to be “very careful in executing parliamentary control”, considering an investigation was underway.

The AKEL deputy added that it was “irresponsible and superficial on part of the MPs to seek to express any opinions before an examination of the issue is completed”. He therefore suggested the discussion ended there, as deputies needed to be “extremely careful” in what they said on the issue.

“In January we will have the result of the Investigative Committee’s work and then we will be able to disuses the whole issue in a much more specific manner,” Kyprianou pointed out.

Copyright © Cyprus Mail 2008