Wedding tragedy: Mayor under fire

Many families are mourning several relatives

Jerusalem Mayor Ehud Olmert is facing growing calls to resign over the collapse of a wedding building in the city.

A tenth person was arrested on Sunday as authorities continue to investigate the cause of the disaster which killed 23 people and injured scores of others.

Two opposition members on Jerusalem's city council said in a statement that Mr Olmert - a member of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's Likud party - allowed businesses in Jerusalem to operate without permits and supervision.

Ehud Olmert says he has done nothing wrong

But Mr Olmert, quoted by Maariv newspaper, said he had no intention of resigning because he had a "clear conscience".

The liberal Ha'aretz newspaper also criticised the mayor. It added that the disaster reflected a combination of professional negligence, illegal operations and flouting of the business licensing laws.

A local Jerusalem weekly newspaper under the headline 'Olmert must go' said the mayor must bear the responsibility for tragedy.

Engineering fault

Mr Sharon said the government would meet on Tuesday to consider launching an official investigation.

The arrests of 10 people come amid growing public anger over allegations of shoddy construction in the hall, which had stood for 15 years in the Talpiot industrial park.

The four owners of the building have been arrested

Police and army officials have said an engineering fault was responsible for the collapse.

The top floor of the wedding venue, the Versailles hall, buckled under hundreds of guests sending them plunging three storeys to the ground.

Memorial service

Shards of glass and debris rained down on the injured.

Those detained include the hall's owners, two contractors, and the inventor of a light-weight construction material used in many Israeli buildings since the 1980s but since banned.

A BBC correspondent in Jerusalem says some of the detained could face charges of causing death through negligence.

Candles were lit at the scene of the tragedy

On Sunday, seven more victims of the tragedy were to be buried, including a couple who were due to get married next month.

They were found in the rubble embracing each other.

More than 160 people remain in hospital, including 16 who are in serious condition.

On Saturday, the army called off a round-the-clock search for survivors, saying that all wedding guests and employees had been accounted for.

Rescue workers and Israeli officials held a memorial service for the dead amid the rubble and twisted metal.