Bosnia sports center roof collapses from snow

SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina (AP) -- The roof of a sports center used for ice skating at the 1984 Winter Olympics collapsed Sunday under the weight of heavy snow, police said. No injuries were reported.

The Skenderija sports center in downtown Sarajevo was closed and nobody was inside when the roof collapsed just after 3 p.m., police spokesman Irfan Nefic said. Surrounding shop windows were broken.

The Skenderija center, made up of three different complexes, was built in 1969 and used during the Olympics for figure skating and hockey. Only the ice skating complex was affected.

For more than a week, Bosnia has been paralyzed with record snowfall. There was up to 3 three feet of snow on the ground in Sarajevo on Sunday.

Temperatures as low as minus 8 throughout the week have made it difficult to clear the snow. Authorities have closed schools and universities and traffic is possible only down main streets and those that lead to hospitals.

They also urged people to shovel in front of their buildings and try to clear their roofs. Snow is being loaded on trucks and dumped into a river, but more snowfall overnight again covered the cleared streets.

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