Two Killed in Georgian War Monument Demolition Blast

A woman and her young daughter have been killed in Georgia during the controversial demolition of a huge Soviet World War II memorial. The demolition was being carried out to make space for a new parliamentary building and reports suggest the two victims were hit by flying concrete.Prosecutors are considering whether safety standards were violated. Russian officials and some Georgian opposition politicians criticised the decision to demolish the monument. The girl, said to be aged seven or eight, and her mother were killed when workers set off an explosion to take down the memorial in Georgia's second-largest city Kutaisi, interior ministry spokesman Zura Gvenetadze told AFP news agency. Another man was also injured and was being treated in hospital, he said. Reuters news agency quotes local media as saying the two victims were killed by lumps of concrete sent hurtling into the courtyard of their home. 'Due care and protection' "According to the preliminary information, the reason of the tragedy was a violation of security standards," said Georgian Prosecutor-General Murtaz Zodelava.