MOSCOW, Feb. 24 (Xinhuanet) -- The death toll has reached 64, with 22 people still hospitalized, in a roof collapse at a Moscow market, Russian emergency ministry officials said early Saturday.

    Rescuers have retrieved a total of 63 bodies under the deris of the market, and one more person died in hospital, the interfax news agency reported.

    The roof collapse happened at the Bauman market in eastern Moscow on Thursday, and all the victims were believed to be workers from Azerbaijan and other former Soviet republics.

    Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov said on Thursday night that work to clear the rubbles of the roof may take about five days, and a special technical commission had been set up to look into the disaster.

    Officials said heavy snowfall overnight, as well as design flaws, might be to blame for the collapse. Prosecutors had opened a criminal investigation on charges of negligence leading to deaths.

    The snow-laden roof of the market, built some 30 years ago, caved in the early morning Thursday. The roof covered an area of 2,000-3,000 square meters. Enditem