Four children aged from nine to 12 years were killed on Saturday when a sports center collapsed near Barcelona in strong winds which battered parts of northern Spain and southwest France. At least 11 adults were killed in separate incidents in Spain and France as gales buffeted the region for a second day, cutting power, disrupting flights and blocking roads. In the sports center disaster, winds of more than 100 kmph (62 mph), ripped the roof off a building next to a baseball court in Sant Boi, causing the breeze block walls to collapse inwards. Around 20 people, mostly children, were inside the building, authorities said. Four children, members of a junior baseball team, were killed. Eight people were injured, including six children. A policeman was killed by a falling tree in Galicia, northern Spain on Saturday, while a 52-year-old woman was killed when a wall collapsed on her as she walked down a street in Barcelona on Friday. Another woman died Saturday in the northern Castilla-Leone region when a door, lifted by the winds, crashed into her, polie said. A 51-year-old man was killed by a falling wall in Alicante, authorities said, while two more adults were killed by falling trees in Catalonia on Saturday. A Portuguese captain died after being rescued from a ship in high seas off the coast of Galicia. In France, gales cut power supplies to around 1.7 million homes and closed roads, railways and airports. In the Landes area said a 50-year-old man was killed when a tree fell on a car. A 78-year-old man died in his garden when he was hit by a piece of debris. The body of a third victim, a 75-year-old man, was found crushed by a tree. French Agriculture Minister Michel Barnier said the storm was the worst since 1999, when a huge storm killed 88 people, and said France would call on the European Union to help fund reconstruction efforts. President Nicolas Sarkozy said he would travel to the affected area Sunday.
