Baikonur Cosmodrome Roof Collapses<br /><br />Associated Press: May 12, 2002 at 9:00:24 PDT<br /><br />ALMATY, Kazakhstan- The roof of a 260-foot-tall hangar at the Baikonur<br />cosmodrome in Kazakhstan collapsed Sunday, trapping eight workers in the<br />debris, officials said.<br /><br />An eight-man construction crew was on the roof of the large hanger at the<br />cosmodrome - Russia's main rocket launching site - when it caved in, said<br />Kairzhan Turezhanov, a spokesman for the Kazakh Emergency Situations<br />Committee.<br /><br />Rescuers were unable to approach the building, which was still unsteady, and<br />so had no information about the condition of the workers, Turezhanov said.<br />He said there were fears that the walls could also collapse.<br /><br />"We don't know whether they're alive or not," said a Russian duty officer at<br />Baikonur who gave only his last name, Denisov.<br /><br />A special Russian rescue brigade left Moscow for Baikonur, some 1,300 miles<br />southeast of Moscow, and Kazakh authorities were waiting for them before<br />taking action, Turezhanov said.<br /><br />It was unclear what if any equipment was stored in the hangar. The ITAR-Tass<br />news agency said the hangar was used to assemble and test space vehicles. It<br />reported that three of five segments of the roof had fallen.<br /><br />Baikonur is Russia's main commercial rocket launching site and is rented<br />from Kazakhstan by Russia for its space program.