Rescue operations underway at the collapsed supermarket in Riga.

DPA/AFP/Riga

Rescue workers retrieved 47 bodies from the rubble of a supermarket in the Latvian capital Riga yesterday, a day after a large section of its roof collapsed.

The Maxima supermarket in central Riga was full of shoppers when the roof caved in late on Thursday evening.

Latvian media reported that dozens more victims might be found, but officials would only say that the number of missing was unclear.

By 1pm (1100 GMT), just 900 of 1,500sq m of the affected area had been cleared, fire brigade spokesman Normunds Plegermanis told the BNS news agency.

More than 30 people were injured and hospitals were calling for more blood donations.

Interior Minister Rihards Kozlovskis said it was “a tragic and black day” in the history of Latvia.

Witnesses said that they heard an alarm before the roof caved in.

Police are investigating the operator of the supermarket, for failure to react to warnings.

Latvian media reported that the roof had been undergoing reconstruction. The building was only completed in 2011.

“Everything was crashing down: the walls, the roof, everything!” witness Jana told LNT television in Riga, where flags were decorated yesterday with black ribbons of mourning.

“I don’t know what happened to the cashiers – if you were sitting down, there is no way you could have got out in time,” she added.

The tragedy shocked the small Baltic state, with the government declaring three days of mourning starting today and planning a moment of silence on Monday for its deadliest accident since regaining independence in 1991.

“We currently have 45 dead,” state fire and rescue service spokeswoman Viktorija Sembele told AFP.

She said earlier that at least 40 other people were wounded when about 500sq m of the roof caved in.

An Armenian citizen may have been among the victims, the Latvian foreign ministry spokesman said, citing unconfirmed information from state police.

Police refused to say how many people were thought to be inside the two-year-old building, and there were fears that teenagers could have been among them as a high school is near the store.

Maxima board member Gintaras Jasinskas told reporters 30 employees were in the store at the time: “Two of them are dead, two are in hospital and two others have not yet been found.”

Also among the dead were three firefighters who were killed trying to rescue people following the first collapse.

“I am proud of my Dad – he died helping others, not thinking about himself,” a girl named Katrina whose father was among the dead said on social media.

Around 200 rescue workers, backed by military personnel, combed through the rubble through the night and remained at the scene yesterday.

Firefighters searched through the rubble and soil by hand and with the help of five large cranes and could be seen through the crater in the roof.

“We are working at maximum capacity but it’s a very dangerous situation in the building,” fire chief Oskars Abolins said.

Dozens of people gathered near the site, crying and holding out hope that their loved ones would still be found alive, even as more and more bodies were hauled out of the rubble and taken away in blue body bags.

“My son’s friend is still in there. He worked in the store,” one woman told AFP through tears.

Visiting the scene, Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis said police had launched a criminal investigation to find the cause of the disaster.

“The state will do everything necessary to help the injured and pay compensation where it is appropriate,” he told reporters.

Maxima said it would also offer compensation.

Speculation about the possible cause centred on plans to build a rooftop garden.