Gym Roof Collapses During Floorball Game in Czech Republic

The roof of a newly-built sports arena in Ceska Trebova, East Bohemia in Czech Republic suddenly collapsed last Saturday. Τhe incident happened during a floorball game and although the roof hit the ground quite quickly, luckily the players and spectators (about 80 people) managed to sprint towards the exit doors in time and nobody got seriously injured.

"The structure started to collapse gradually from the back on the floor. The beams were falling down... It collapsed like a house of cards. It went quickly, but luckily there was space to escape," said Renata Typlova, chairwoman of the local floorball club who co-organized the event.

The police secured the building after the collapse and they have been waiting for the experts' opinion regarding the cause of the accident. The sports arena, whose construction costed 58 million Czech crowns ($ 2,28 million), was just approved for use on January 2, and according to its designer Tomas Fris, all construction standards were adhered to. He also denied that the 25-cm layer of snow on the roof could have caused the collapse. Regional Governor Martin Netolicky said that the works of removal of the roof debris will start as soon as possible, in order for the sports arena to start serving the public again this year.

The terrifying moments of the collapse were captured on camera.