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Maxima retailer reaches settlement with victims of 2013 store collapse in Riga

Xinhua, November 9, 2016 Adjust font size:

Maxima Latvija retail company has committed to paying 100,000 euros (110,500 U.S. dollars) in compensation to families that lost relatives in a deadly collapse of a Maxima supermarket here in late 2013, the company announced on Tuesday.

Maxima Latvija CEO Andris Vilcmeiers said at a news conference that each victim' s family would be paid a compensation of 100,000 euros under the settlement reached between the retail company and the lawyers representing the victims' families.

The first agreements have already been signed with the families represented by lawyer Aldis Gobzems, but a similar deal will also be offered to other victims' families.

Maxima is also planning to negotiate a settlement with those injured in the collapse, but these talks are still ongoing, Vilcmeiers told reporters.

Gobzems described the settlement as an "unprecedented case."

Maxima representatives hope that the 100,000-euro payments will help end legal disputes over compensations to the victims' families.

The tragic accident took place on Nov. 21, 2013 when the roof of a Maxima supermarket in Riga' s Zolitude neighborhood collapsed, killing 54 people and injuring dozens of others.

A criminal investigation that was launched to establish the causes of the collapse lasted nearly a year and a half and resulted in criminal charges against eight persons.

The hearing of the case in a Riga court is still ongoing. (1 euro = 1.10 U.S. dollars) Endit