20th dead body of cockle picker found in England bay

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Monday, February 16, 2004

20th dead body of cockle picker found in England bay

The death toll in northwestern England's Morecambe Bay rose to 20 after a woman's body was found on a sandbank Sunday, police said.

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Moscow major Yuri Luzhkov said Sunday evening that the death toll in the roof collapse of a Moscow water park reached 25, noting that there was no hope to find live people under the rubble one day after the disaster.

"There is no hope that live people can be found," Luzhkov told Russia's Channel on television.

He said that 24 bodies had been recovered on the spot and that one person died in a hospital.

He said that the death toll could rise.

Earlier, the Itar-Tass news agency had reported 28 deaths, citing unnamed city fire department officials. The Interfax news agency said six of the dead were children.

Luzhkov ruled out the theory of the disaster behind a terrorist attack, adding that the design mistakes could lead to the Saturday collapse of the roof in the Transvaal aqua park in Moscow's southwestern suburbs.

Interfax quoted officials with Moscow health department as saying that some 77 of more than 110 injured remained in hospitals, including 26 children.

There were hundreds of people in the water park complex when the collapse occurred at 7:15 p.m. (1615 GMT) Saturday, officials said.

Up to 250 people were in the pool area over which the concrete and glass dome collapsed, the water park management as said.

Emergency Situations Minister Sergei Shoigu said early Sunday that about 17 people were believed missing. Rescuers said that over 10 people may be trapped under the debris. The authorities urged Muscovites to inform them if any relatives were feared missing in the collapse, promising to provide the families of those killed and the injured with aid.

Prosecutors opened a criminal investigation into any possible failure to fulfill "professional obligations."

Russia's State Construction Committee, Goootroi, suspended the licenses of the builder of the complex, the Turkish company Kocak Insaat, and the designer of the complex, Russia's architectural firm Sergei Kiselyov & Partners, the Interfax news agency reported.

Kocak Insaat was quoted by Interfax as saying it was "shocked and at a loss."

"We have never had a situation of this kind before," the agency quoted company representatives as saying.

The Transvaal aqua park is the largest of its kind in the Russian capital. Built in 2002, it covers an area of over 20,000 square meters. It has 16 up-and-down hills, three pools, an artificial river, water slides and several sauna rooms. It can accommodate up to 2,000 visitors.

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