On 28 January 2006, the roof of one of the buildings at the Katowice International Fair (Międzynarodowe Targi Katowickie) collapsed in Chorzów / Katowice, Poland. At 16:15 GMT (17:15 local time), the central section of the roof of the hall collapsed, possibly due to the weight of snow on the building. According to the police there were roughly 700 people in the hall at the time of the collapse. A further collapse occurred 90 minutes later during rescue operations. Polish government spokesman Krzysztof Mejer confirmed that there had been 65 dead as well as more than 170 injured, including 13 foreigners. There are confirmed deaths of ten foreign tourists – one from Belgium, one from Germany, three from Slovakia, one from the Netherlands, one from Hungary and three from the Czech Republic. The trade hall was hosting the 56th National Exhibition of Carrier Pigeons, with over 120 exhibitors from all over Europe. Poland was at that time experiencing very cold weather with heavy snow. This meant that the rescue operation was undertaken in sub-zero temperatures, putting the survivors inside the building at risk of exposure. Rescue operation Rescue support was sent from the surrounding area, including Katowice, as well as from the neighbouring province of Lesser Poland. Since parts of the collapsed structure were supported only by heaps of snow, the rescue teams could not heat the pockets beneath the collapsed roof with hot air, fearing that the roof might collapse even further. The search and rescue action was terminated on the afternoon of Sunday 29 January 2006 as, according to Janusz Skulich, commander of the Silesian Fire Fighters, the probability of rescuing any more survivors from beneath the collapsed roof was by then close to zero. Heavy equipment is reported to have started clearing the area of the remaining rubble. The rescue action was carried out by 103 firefighter teams (more than 1000 firefighters altogether), EMS units as well as 230 policemen with dogs, military police units from Kraków and Gliwice, the GOPR mountain rescue team of Szczyrk and specialists from the mine rescue team of Bytom. Survivors were taken to nearby hospitals in Chorzów and Katowice, and to other towns of the region, including Siemianowice Śląskie, Bytom, Sosnowiec, Ruda Śląska, Dąbrowa Górnicza and Piekary Śląskie. Andrzej Skrzyś, vice-president of Polish Society of Carrier-Pigeons said that by Saturday the rescue services had brought over 1,000 pigeons to the office