FC Twente Football Stadium Collapse in Netherland

One person has been killed and sixteen have been injured when part of the roof of FC Twenty’s Grolsch Veste football stadium collapse on Thursday noon local time. The incident took place in the city of Enschede, 163 kilometers east of Amsterdam in Netherland.

The Collapsed Roof

An expansion work was carried out in the stadium to upgrade it to a 32000 sitting capacity, when the roof of one stand of the Grolsch Veste stadium collapsed after two support beams buckled.

Rescue workers rushed to the scene to attempt to free the construction workers who were trapped in the collapse, with a local government spokeswoman for the city of Enschede confirming there had been on fatality.

“It is terrible. One person has died and 16 others were injured. Ten of them were taken to hospital. Two of those are seriously injured,” Mayor Peter den Oudsten told a press conference in the city of Enschede.

“We cannot at this stage give the figure with absolute surety,” he added, saying “we have to make sure that nobody else remains trapped under the rubble.”

”Everyone is out to our knowledge. People are still searching with dogs and specialist camera teams, but that is as an extra precaution, a double-check,” said the Mayor.

FC Twente posted a statement on their official website, www.fctwente.nl, which read: “During the renovation work at the Grolsch Veste the roof of the building collapsed. Our thoughts are with everyone involved.”

The club confirmed that their friendly match against New Zealand on Saturday had been cancelled. The chairman Joop Munsterman is thought to have left the team’s pre-season training camp and is returning to Enschede. The coach Co Adriaanse has cancelled all press activity until further notice.

“It is therefore impossible for us to continue our training camp in New Zealand and we cannot play against New Zealand”.

‘We did not want to remain such a distance from what happened today. The open day on July 17 will not occur and the other events in the stadium will not proceed until further notice.’

Twente won the Eredivisie title in 2010 and finished second last season, beating champions Ajax to win the Dutch Cup.