Transvaal water park roof collapse. "Transvaal Park" was brought down by an architect
This evening I watched the news and waited: will they remember or not? Didn't remember. But exactly 7 years ago today, the roof of the Transvaal water park collapsed.
I.A. immediately assessed what was happening. Dedyukhova in the article Valentine's Day. Seven years have passed since then. What do we have at the moment?In Moscow, on February 14, 2004, the dome of Russia's largest indoor water park collapsed. As a result of the disaster, 28 people were killed and more than a hundred people were injured. The Moscow City Prosecutor's Office recognized the cause of the collapse as incorrect design decisions and miscalculations. In this regard, charges were brought against the designer of the collapsed dome, Nodar Kancheli, and the head of Moscow State Expertise, Anatoly Voronin. However, the Zamoskvoretsky Court of Moscow subsequently recognized that there was no crime in the actions of Voronin, who was accused of negligence, and amnestied the architect Kancheli, who was accused of causing death by negligence. The case was dropped. Relatives of the accident victims appealed this decision, but the Moscow City Court declared it legal. In February 2008, a claim for just compensation was filed with the European Court of Human Rights.
Here: Cases of roof collapses in public places in 2004-2011.
February 3, 2011 In Novosibirsk, the roof of an industrial workshop of the construction company Discus Plus collapsed. 2 people were killed, four were injured. The cause of the emergency, according to preliminary data, could have been not only snow, but also weakening or fatigue of supporting structures. The investigation is being conducted by the regional departments of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation, and a criminal case has been initiated.
On the same day A similar emergency occurred in Kazan in the building of a glass storage warehouse on the territory of a house-building industrial complex, one person died, the area of the collapse was 100 square meters.
January 27, 2011 There was a collapse of the roof of the building of a weaving enterprise in the Ivanovo region. The reasons for the emergency were the dilapidation of the building and the snow load; the area of the collapse was 1-1.2 thousand square meters, no one was injured.
January 25, 2011 At about 20.40, more than five thousand square meters of roof collapsed in the Okay store in the residential Vyborg district of St. Petersburg. One person died, 13 were injured. According to investigators, the accident occurred during snow removal. A criminal case regarding the collapse of the roof was initiated under the article “violation of safety rules during construction and other work.”
January 10, 2011 A roof collapse covering an area of about 80 square meters occurred in the multifunctional sports complex named after Alekseev in the Vyborg district of St. Petersburg. Two people were injured.
According to updated data, which are given in the message of the Ministry of Emergency Situations, the collapse occurred due to the fact that snow during snow removal work on the roof of the main building of the complex was thrown onto the extension where the gym is located.
August 13, 2010 In Saratov, the roof of the Mega Furniture shopping complex collapsed. According to preliminary data from the investigative department of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation for the Saratov region, 14 people were injured as a result of the emergency. The commission of the government of the Saratov region to investigate the emergency came to the conclusion that the tragedy was provoked by violations of the rules for operating the building and carrying out repair work on the roof.
March 11, 2010 There was a deflection and partial collapse of the slate roof of a two-story elementary school building in the village of Pervomaiskoye, Tomsk region. No harm done. According to the head of the Unified Duty Dispatch Services, Sergei Chernousov, the cause of the collapse was the dilapidation of the building.
March 5, 2010 Due to snow and ice, the roof of a school in the village of Comintern, Engels district, Saratov region, collapsed. No harm done.
February 28, 2010 The roof of an elementary school building collapsed in the village of Moshenskoye, Novgorod Region. No harm done. The collapse occurred, presumably, under the weight of snow.
February 24, 2010 In Orenburg, the roof of the Crystal Ice Palace collapsed due to heavy rainfall. No one was injured as a result of the emergency.
February 21, 2010 There was a roof collapse in the pavilion in Sokolniki Park in Moscow. The area of the collapse was six thousand square meters. No harm done.
February 3, 2010, presumably under the weight of snow, the dilapidated roof of the building of the prosecutor's office of the Novgorod garrison collapsed. No harm done.
December 6, 2009 There was a partial collapse of the roof of the Polyus ice skating rink in Vladivostok. The roof collapsed under the weight of snow. No one was injured as a result of the incident.
March 20, 2009 The roof of a secondary school in the village of Pyatirechye, Kholmsky district, Sakhalin region, collapsed due to snow accumulated on it. There was no one in the building at the time of the collapse and no one was injured.
January 30, 2009 The roof of the Kvarts ice palace collapsed in the city of Bor, Nizhny Novgorod region, no one was killed or injured. According to the preliminary version, as a result of the accumulation of ice and snow on the roof, the outer and then the inner shells (inflatable structure) ruptured, and the snow mass fell onto the ice of the palace.
August 24, 2008 There was a collapse of the roof on an area of 450 square meters and the outer wall in the Volkov House of Culture in the Orekhovo-Zuevsky municipal district of the Moscow region. According to the press service of the regional Ministry of Emergency Situations, there were no deaths or injuries.
November 22, 2007 The Krylatskoye skating center in Moscow was closed due to the threat of roof collapse after one of the hinges of the supporting structure burst. According to the findings of the city commission created after the incident, the cause of the accident was a defect in the metal rod - the “finger” that held the cables of the building’s roof.
November 17, 2007 In Narofominsk, near Moscow, the roof of the Oktyabr cinema, which is under reconstruction, collapsed. The total area of the collapse was 40 square meters. No harm done.
April 17, 2007 In Chelyabinsk, the roof of the Traktor ice palace collapsed, there were no casualties or injuries. The area of the collapse was about 30 square meters.
February 20, 2007 The roof of the Kopeyka store collapsed in Nizhny Novgorod. The building was under reconstruction. At the time of the collapse, there was a team of repairmen of five people in the building, three of them managed to escape, two workers died.
The prosecutor's office opened a criminal case under Article 216, Part 2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation - violation of safety rules during construction work, resulting in the death of a person through negligence.
March 31, 2006 In the Leningrad region, the roof of the skating rink of the private recreation complex "Okhta Park" collapsed due to accumulated snow - a woman and a child were hospitalized with bruises and fractures.
March 12, 2006 In the north-east of Moscow, the roof of one of the warehouse buildings of the Otradnoye market collapsed. The incident occurred at the address: Signalny Proezd, building 35. As a result of the emergency, no one was injured.
The total area of the collapse was about 80 square meters. According to the preliminary conclusion of Emergency Situations Ministry specialists, the cause of the collapse was snow accumulated on the roof.
March 10, 2006 The roof of a market in Kazan collapsed. One woman was injured. The roof collapsed under the weight of snow. The area of the collapsed roof was 100 square meters, the total area of the market was 250 square meters.
February 23, 2006 In Moscow, the roof of the Basmanny Market building collapsed. About 100 people were trapped under the roof and reinforced concrete structures, 66 of them died. The victims of the tragedy were three Russians, citizens of Azerbaijan, Georgia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, who worked in the market and spent the night there. The total area of the collapse was more than three thousand square meters.
The investigation has not yet established the cause of the tragedy.
In June 2008 The investigation into the collapse of the Basmanny market in Moscow was suspended.
February 21, 2006 In the Rostov region in the city of Tsimlyansk, the roof of the Teremok kindergarten collapsed due to snow accumulation. No harm done.
December 21, 2005 In the gymnasium of school number 89 at the Grigorievskaya station, Nytvensky district, Perm Territory, a roof collapse occurred. At that moment, there were 17 students and a teacher in the gym, who took the children out through the main and emergency exits. No harm done.
December 4, 2005 In the city of Chusovoy, Perm Territory, the roof of the Dolphin swimming pool collapsed. As a result, 14 people died - 10 children and four women.
February 10, 2005 in one of the schools in the Nekhaevsky district of the Volgograd region, the roof of an area of 480 square meters collapsed under the weight of snow. There were no reports of casualties.
June 21, 2004 The roof of the Spartak swimming pool in Novosibirsk collapsed. Pieces of the roof and part of the brick walls collapsed into the pool itself, as well as onto the sidewalk adjacent to one of the sides of the building. There were no casualties in the emergency, since none of the passers-by were nearby at that moment.
The reason for the collapse of the pool roof was attributed to improper use of the building. As experts established after conducting the necessary examinations, there was no sufficient ventilation in the pool. As a result, there was high temperature and humidity in the building. This led to the brickwork of the walls gradually collapsing.
February 14, 2004 In Moscow, a roof collapse occurred in the Transvaal Park water park. As a result, 28 people were killed and more than 100 were injured. The Moscow City Prosecutor's Office recognized the cause of the collapse of the Transvaal Park dome as incorrect design solutions and design miscalculations.
The material was prepared based on information from RIA NovostiThe 9th anniversary of the tragedy that occurred in the Moscow Transvaal Park water park is approaching. Then, on February 14, 2004, one of the most prestigious water parks in Moscow in a matter of minutes turned into a pile of rubble, burying 25 people under it.
On February 14, in the Moscow water park “Transvaal Park” at 19 hours 15 minutes 43 seconds Moscow time, a reinforced concrete dome began to collapse. This moment was recorded with precision up to a second by internal surveillance cameras. 70% of the roof (5 thousand square meters of concrete and glass structures) collapsed almost instantly. The dome covered the entire water part of the complex except for the adult pool.
From media reports:
At about 19:15, the roof collapsed in the largest health center in Moscow, Transvaal Park, located at 16 Golubinskaya Street (Yasenevo metro station). At first it was reported that the glass dome had collapsed, but then it became known that a concrete structure had collapsed.The roof reportedly collapsed into a children's pool where there were many visitors.
Almost one-fourth of the building collapsed, right in the place where the entertainment water complex was located. The area of the roof collapse, according to the Ministry of Emergency Situations, amounted to more than 5 thousand square meters. meters. In addition, at about 00:00, another part of the dome collapsed at the rescue site. Fortunately, no one was injured as a result of the falling fragment of the visor.
Version 1: Unreliable soils
First of all, the attention of specialists was attracted by the foundations, especially since immediately after the disaster the media disseminated information that the water park was built on poor soil - supposedly this place had previously been a swamp, a cemetery, a garbage dump, a dump of earth removed during the construction of the Yasenevo metro station. . The Kosovan Commission attracted specialists from Mosgeotrest, who examined the soils and foundations and decided: everything was normal, the source of the roof collapse was not underground.
Already on February 20, the deputy head of the State Construction Committee and the deputy head of the operational headquarters for investigating the causes of the disaster, Anatoly Petrakov, also stated that the foundations were in good condition: “Neither the soil nor the foundation are the cause of the damage - they are in perfect condition. The latest instrumental survey showed that there are deviations within 2 mm - this is a completely acceptable, insignificant error."
It is clear that the water park stood safely for a year and a half, but collapsed in the winter, during severe frosts, when the ground freezes and resists loads especially well. In addition, all commissions and interested parties agree on one thing: judging by the preliminary tests, the concrete and reinforcement used for the construction of the water park were of the proper grade and, in theory, should have withstood the planned loads. That is, if the settlement of the building had changed gradually, a few centimeters per month, the destruction of the water park would not have been so catastrophic.
This version was rejected by the commission as untenable.
Version 2: Terrorist attack
The next version that needed to be checked concerned the possibility of a terrorist attack. Within a week, a team of explosives experts from the FSB began working at the scene of the disaster. Soon they reported: no traces of explosives were found in the ruins.
Version 3: Incorrect calculations by designers
A second before the disaster, an outdoor video camera recorded the appearance of a cloud of dust at the base of the column. Video recordings of external surveillance cameras installed along the perimeter of the water park building were divided into frames. It clearly shows how events unfolded. The problems began with one of the columns on which the outer part of the dome rests - a dark cloud appeared near the support, about a meter from the surface of the earth. The next shot - the column breaks in this place and falls out. The span from which the support just fell immediately doubles - from 6 m to 12 m. Unable to withstand the load, neighboring columns fall out.
It turned out that the destruction of the water park building began not from the roof, as was initially thought, but from one of the columns that supported the outer part of the dome covering in a wide arc. After the first column broke, “pulling” the roof over itself, the rest began to fall. A crack appeared in the reinforced concrete dome, which split the roof, and only then the ceilings fell inward. All this, according to eyewitnesses, happened very quickly, literally in a few seconds.
Whatever the immediate cause of the building’s loss of stability, the water park “collapsed” too quickly, and a structure of too large an area collapsed, as if the entire building, like a house of cards, was balancing on the brink of critical loads. So it gradually became clear that the main cause of the disaster most likely lay in the design features of the Transvaal.
Even before the official announcement of the decision on the results of the investigation into the tragedy at the water park, the prosecutor's office actually named the cause of the disaster, ruling out the version of a terrorist attack. According to Moscow Prosecutor Anatoly Zuev, video footage from the scene of the tragedy shows that there was no external impact on the columns of the water park.
After this, the only version left was a designer error. Thus, there was only one culprit left - Nodar Kancheli.
Kancheli’s guilt has been fully established,” the deputy prosecutor told reporters. “We were ready to go to court and convince him that the cause of the collapse of the water park were design errors made by the chief designer and architect Nodar Kancheli.
Nodar Kancheli
Yudin said that a complex forensic examination was carried out in the case, which leaves no doubt that the cause of the disaster was errors in calculations. The prosecutor's office double-checked the experts' conclusions several times, which is why the investigation took so long. According to the prosecutor, when designing the roof of the water park, Kancheli chose the wrong brand of concrete. The builders used unstressed concrete, but they needed stressed concrete, Yudin explained the details. But in this case, Kancheli would have to redo the entire structure.
The roof, which was shaped like a membrane, constantly swayed under the influence of the wind. Moreover, the loads on the structure exceeded the permissible norm by 29 percent.
“According to experts, this structure, in principle, could not stand,” Vladimir Yudin summed up the disappointing result. - She would inevitably fall.
Most experts considered the cause of the collapse of the water park roof to be defects in the roof itself, built according to the design of the famous designer Nodar Kancheli. In particular, opinions were expressed that mistakes were made during the design of this structure, its construction and operation. But none of the versions were confirmed.
The designer Kancheli and his colleagues took on the project of a unique roof-shell, according to them, rather out of scientific interest; in any case, they received only $20 thousand for the work from the general contractor. But many problems arose. The main one was that neither the employees of ZAO K nor their colleagues from other bureaus could conduct an independent examination of the calculations: there was simply nothing to compare them with.
Please note that the dome was originally planned to be made of metal and the project was examined using it. Experts usually check calculations very meticulously. And if you consider that the structure was classified as unique, then you can imagine how carefully everything was checked.The project nevertheless passed the state examination. But the structure was built with a reinforced concrete dome and cost the customer much less than a metal one.
The chief designer of Transvaal Park in Yasenevo, Nodar Kancheli, still believes that the dome of the entertainment complex collapsed due to external influences.
“I categorically disagree with the conclusions made by the prosecutor’s office,” he told Interfax, adding that he learned about the conclusion of the examination published by Moscow prosecutor Anatoly Zuev from journalists.
Well, I don’t believe in the engineer’s mistake! I do not believe! Nodar Kancheli is the most famous and most experienced designer in Moscow, who has developed the most complex components of today's Moscow construction projects.
Nodar Kancheli and second designer Anatoly Voronin said that they do not admit their guilt. According to them, some technological violations were indeed committed, but this happened after the approval of all projects and without their knowledge.
But you can believe in this! I myself encounter cases every day when a customer, out of a desire to save money, redoes a project at his own discretion. Then the question arises: Where were the regulatory authorities looking?
My conclusions: As a result of system errors associated with changes to the project, work on the construction of the shell (dome) was carried out with a deviation from the project that had passed the state examination.
Everyone is to blame: -N. Kancheli is that he did not conduct designer supervision during construction;
- builders who built a complex object with deviation from the project that passed the state examination;
- regulatory authorities represented by the State Construction Supervision, which “did not notice” the substitution of the project;
- the biggest fault lies with the customer, who, wanting to save money, forces the developer to build objects deviating from the original project, and apparently in a shortened time frame.
In the Moscow water park "Transvaal Park" at the address Golubinskaya street, house 16 (Yasenevo district), at 19 hours 15 minutes 43 seconds local time the roof began to collapse. This moment was recorded with precision up to a second by internal surveillance cameras. 70% of the roof (which is 5 thousand square meters of concrete and glass structures) collapsed almost instantly. The dome covered the entire water part of the complex, including the children's pool. Only the adult pool was not included in the collapse zone. Large rubble has formed, under which there are people.
At the time of the collapse, a festive program dedicated to Valentine's Day was taking place in the water park pool. There were 426 people there, including many children. In total, there were 1,300 people in the water park building, and 362 people were directly in the affected area.
At about 7 o'clock Kyiv time, rescuers pulled the bodies of four people, including one child, from under the rubble. The death toll reached 21 people (including four children). 142 people were injured. According to rescuers, there may be 10-15 people under the rubble.
Added at 10:30
“The work continued throughout the night. In total, 49 dead and injured were recovered from the rubble,” said the head of the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations, Sergei Shoigu. According to him, 110 people were admitted to hospitals, four of them in serious condition.
“Currently, 145 boxes with unclaimed clothing have been found in the water park, of which 14 belong to the water park employees. Having compared various data, we assume that 17 people may be under the rubble,” the minister said.
According to the head of the Ministry of Emergency Situations, the blockage at the site of the tragedy is very complex. “There’s a lot of broken glass and fittings there. Search dogs are constantly cutting their paws. The third shift of dogs is already working,” he added.
Currently, about 1.5 thousand people are involved in rescue operations. The temperature inside the water park, where rescue operations are ongoing, is plus 14-16 degrees.
According to official data, 110 people were hospitalized (32 men, 46 women and 32 children), another 32 people received outpatient medical care. During the rescue operation, 106 people were pulled out alive from the rubble.
An operational investigation team is working at the scene of the incident. Forensic experts and prosecutors identify the dead and send them to the morgue.
According to rescuers working at the site of the rubble, “there is practically no chance left to get living people out from under the rubble.” This is due to the fact that people were under the rubble for a long time without clothes.
The Ministry of Emergency Situations has lists of those who visited the water park on Saturday. You can find out about the victims by calling the hotline of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of the Russian Federation: (8 10 7 095) 422-93-90
There are many children among the wounded
More than 20 children were injured in the water park disaster. 9 wounded children aged 3 to 10 years were taken to 
Morozov Children's Hospital. Four children had broken limbs and all had a concussion, hospital staff reported.
According to one of the doctors, the children said that they celebrated their birthday in the water park with their parents. Some of the guys managed to run out into the street, and some were evacuated by rescuers.
There are a lot of people under the rubble
Palm trees, chairs, sun loungers, towels, and toys are scattered throughout the Transvaal Park building.
As of 06:20 Sunday, rescuers were still unable to use heavy equipment to clear the rubble - about 200 rescuers were still doing everything manually. After dismantling, the metal reinforcement and reinforced concrete blocks are cut into pieces, removed by three cranes and transported on KamAZ trucks.
Experts installed lighting and heat guns to prevent those still under the rubble from getting frostbite and dying “from secondary symptoms.”
During rescue operations, another fragment of the roof collapsed at the water park at about 11:30 p.m. No one was injured when this fragment fell. Rescue operations in Transvaal Park and clearing of rubble will last at least until Sunday evening.
In connection with the collapse of the roof and the death of people in the water park, the Moscow prosecutor's office opened a criminal case under the second part of Article 109 of the Criminal Code (causing death by negligence). Thus, the managers of the Transvaal Park entertainment complex, if found guilty of what happened, face a sentence of imprisonment for up to five years.
Added at 14:51
According to the latest data, 26 people were killed as a result of a roof collapse at the Transvaal Park entertainment complex.
She clarified that payments will be made to the relatives of those visitors to the water park who have entered into a corresponding agreement with the company.
Versions of what happened
Eyewitnesses to the incident from among the visitors, as well as from among the service personnel, said that at first they heard a sound similar to an explosion, then the glass dome above the children's pool collapsed. Other visitors to the water park claim that there was a crash and the glass roof over the main pool began to slowly sag and then collapsed. Deputy head of the information department of the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations, Colonel Viktor Beltsov, said that “there was no explosion.” The Central Internal Affairs Directorate also denied information about the explosion.
The investigation currently has many main versions of what happened: the fragility of the dome structure itself, the collapse due to snow accumulated on the glass roof, a crack in the dome due to temperature differences, improper operation of the dome, defects in the manufacture of load-bearing structures, miscalculations in the project.
Experts at the scene of the tragedy reported that, according to their preliminary assessment, the reinforced concrete roof absorbed condensation that formed as a result of evaporation. It is possible that the ventilation did not cope well and the condensate froze. As a result, one of the roof structures could not stand it and it collapsed.
Another version is that the dome cracked due to fluctuations in air temperature over the past two days.
At first, it was possible that the roof structures could not withstand the snow mass and collapsed under its weight, but Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov told reporters that there was not much snow on the roof of the water park and, most likely, the fragility of the dome was to blame.
As a representative of the Moscow architectural community told RIA Novosti, it is possible that errors were made in the calculations of the project, which could also be seen by the expert.
The next possible reason is a technological defect at the plant where the structures were cast. “It could even be an accidental marriage,” the specialist believes.
In addition, according to him, the cause of the tragedy could have been improper installation of structures. “At the same time, in accordance with the theory of disasters, there may be a fantastic confluence of unfavorable factors,” the agency’s interlocutor emphasized.
In his opinion, a final conclusion will be possible here only after a thorough examination, which should go in several directions at once.
Water park in Yasenevo
The largest water park in Moscow opened in 2002 in the southwest of the Russian capital in the Yasenevo microdistrict. The total area of the complex is 20,200 sq. m. meters, it can accommodate 2000 visitors. On the ground floor there is a restaurant with 50 seats, administration premises, engineering equipment, as well as a bowling alley with a cafe-bar and a billiard room. Moreover, the bowling alley has 12 lanes, and its design is made in the style of a Mayan Indian palace.
On the second floor there is the main lobby of the complex with a cloakroom, a quick service cafe with 100 seats, a store for related products and a storage room. On the third floor there is a gym and a beauty salon.
The main area is the water park. Its interior imitates the southern sea, surrounded by rocks and tropical vegetation (see photo before the disaster: the Main Hall with an overhanging ill-fated roof). The water park is conventionally divided into a lazy river zone, a wave pool zone and a hydromassage pool zone.
In addition, the water park also has a sports pool. From the water park, visitors can access the sauna area. The sauna complex is divided into two sections, decorated in Greek and Oriental styles.
