Six Russian workers fall while clearing snow at Olympic bobsled venue

SOCOG staff members digs in the snow after six workers were swept off a roof at the bobsleigh center, for the upcoming Winter Olympics in Sochi when the snow they were clearing slid to the ground in Rzhanaya Polyana Russia on Thursday Jan. 16, 2014. (AP Photo/Joe Payne)

SOCHI, Russia -- Six workers fell off a roof Thursday at the bobsled centre for the upcoming Winter Olympics in Sochi when the snow they were clearing slid to the ground.

Associated Press technicians who witnessed the fall said one of the men appeared to have injured a leg and was taken away on a stretcher, while others sustained minor injuries.

The men were clearing snow at the Sanki Sliding Center, which will host the bobsled and luge events at next month's games in the Russian Black Sea city. The AP technicians said the workers appeared to have been harnessed to the building, but were swept down with the snow.

They estimated the roof was 10 metres high. The building is where the men's bobsled runs will start.

Security officers who arrived at the scene ordered the AP staffers to stop taking photographs with their phones, and briefly seized one of the devices.

No comment was immediately available from Sochi organizers.