The Latvian parliamentary investigation commission established to look into the fatal supermarket collapse in the capital in November last year gathered for its first meeting on Thursday, Baltic News Service reported.

Former Chief State Notary Ringolds Balodis from the opposition leftist For Latvia From The Heart (NSL) was elected chairman of the parliamentary investigation commission which has 12 members.

Balodis said that the commission's meetings would be public but the members might choose to hold certain meetings behind closed doors.

It was agreed to invite to the commission's meetings Latvian Prosecutor General Eriks Kalnmeiers and other officials, possibly including Riga Mayor Nils Usakovs and Latvia's former prime minister Valdis Dombrovskis, who resigned after the supermarket collapse and now is serving as the Vice-President of the European Commission.

The parliamentary investigation commission is expected to review the causes of the fatal supermarket collapse and produce proposals for improving laws and regulations as well as performance of the public and municipal authorities to prevent repetition of similar tragedies and will also consider the steps to be taken to deal with the consequences of the fatal accident.

Several successive roof cave-ins in the building housing a supermarket of the Lithuanian-owned Maxima chain in the Zolitude residential area in Riga occurred on Nov. 21, 2013, killing 54 people, including three rescuers, and injuring dozens of other people.

A criminal investigation has been started into the deadly accident which might have been caused by several factors, including errors in construction designs, neglect on part of the builders or the supermarket's operator. Endit

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