Four more suspects named in 2013 Latvian supermarket collapse case

Police have named four more suspects in the case of a deadly collapse of a Maxima supermarket in Riga in late 2013, local media reported Monday.

Three of the new suspects are employees of the Riga city construction authority and are accused of criminal failure to act. The fourth suspect, an employee of a company, is suspected of breaching labor safety rules.

According to report by the Baltic News Service, the latest suspects include the Riga construction authority's former deputy head Janis Balodis, who no longer works at the institution, and the construction authority's chief engineer Aija Melnikova.

Company representative Oskars Rode confirmed that Maxima is a legal entity being probed in the case. Police have arrested eight of the retailer's properties, including a logistics centre and seven stores. Maxima have been banned from selling or pawning these assets.

Five legal entities and nine individuals have so far been made suspects in the ongoing criminal investigation of the collapse of the Maxima supermarket in Riga's Zolitude suburb.

As many as 54 people lost their lives and scores of others were injured when the roof of a Maxima supermarket in Riga caved in on Nov. 21, 2013. A criminal investigation has been started into the deadly accident which is thought to be caused by several factors, including errors in construction design, neglect on the part of the builders or the supermarket's operator. Endit