The manager of a park in Moscow has been fired after a pedestrian bridge collapsed injuring 13 people during New Year celebrations in the Russian capital.
Revellers were preparing to watch the midnight fireworks at Gorky Park, one of the central attractions in Moscow, when a wooden bridge caved in causing dozens of people to fall onto a skating rink below.
The incident took place just minutes after the clock struck midnight and although there were no serious injuries, those hurt in the incident were rushed to hospital.
Marina Lyulchuk, the park’s 36-year-old boss, was fired by the mayor of Moscow, Sergei Sobyanin, who also announced that everyone who was injured would receive 500,000 Russian Rubles (£5,700) in compensation.
“I visited the victims at the collapse of the bridge in Gorky Park. Thank God, there are no serious injuries, but people’s holidays have been thoroughly spoiled,” the mayor wrote on VKontakte, a Russian social media site.
“We are thoroughly investigating the incident, the perpetrators will be punished. But it is already obvious that the park administration has made a serious flaw.
“I have commissioned the department of culture to dismiss the park director, although I must say that this decision was not easy for me,” he added.
The exact cause of the collapse remains unknown but authorities have launched an investigation.
The Moscow city government said they believed it was likely to have been caused by a “technical fault in the skating rink’s structural elements.”
