MOSCOW, Feb 23: The snow-laden roof of a Moscow food market collapsed before dawn on Thursday as traders started their day, killing 56 people and trapping others in the wreckage.

The roof of the Baumansky market fell in at about 5am on a national holiday — Defenders of the Fatherland Day — and before the market was open to the public, likely preventing even greater carnage.

“Everything suddenly caved in,” said Oktay Salmanov, a market trader from Azerbaijan.

“I was standing near the main entrance and that’s why I managed to get out in time. But my three sisters are dead and so is the man I was working with.”

Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov announced 12 hours after the collapse occurred that 56 people had died.

The Moscow health authority said the injured included one victim in critical condition, 12 in serious condition and 10 more suffering from lesser injuries, RIA-Novosti news agency reported.

A fire briefly broke out after the disaster, sending up thick clouds of acrid smoke and hampering rescuers’ efforts as they searched for any survivors.

Emergency workers ordered silence every 15 minutes to listen for sounds of those trapped. At one point they could be seen rushing to dig at 10 different spots.

“Time is running out,” Emergency Situations Minister Sergei Shoigu said at the scene.

President Vladimir Putin said that ‘rescuers are doing all they can to help the victims’.

Investigators were considering whether a failure to clear recent heavy snowfall from the roof may have contributed to the cave-in, officials said.

It was the third major building collapse blamed on snow in Europe since last month.

Heavy snow was also blamed in January for the collapse of an exhibition hall in southern Poland that killed 65 people, and the destruction of an enclosed German ice rink that killed 15, including a dozen children.—AFP