Beware of icicles

As spring is setting in, lumps of compressed snow and icicles keep on falling from the roofs all over Russia. At least, several victims have already been recorded. Last Saturday, a 9-yearold boy was killed by a falling snow clod in the centre of the Siberian city of Tomsk. A man and a woman were hurt in the same mishap – they were lucky enough to get off lightly only having received concussion. Criminal proceedings were launched over the boy’s death, and the local prosecutor has put the case under his own personal control. A commission has been set up at Tomsk’s city hall to check the condition of the roofs in the city.