Glue decay to blame

Collapse of the Roof over an ice rink at Bad Reichenhall, Germany, which killed 15 people in January, is believed to have been caused by adhesive failure.

Preliminary investigations of the wreckage indicate that the 40 m span timber box girder roof failed at mid span. Investigators have also found that the urea formaldehyde adhesive was missing from at least five joints in the engineered timber structure. No evidence of rot has yet been found in the softwood timber.

The adhesive decay combined with weight of the wet snow which had recently fallen is thought to have caused the catastrophic collapse of the roof structure which was built in the early 1970s.