Latvia's Prime Minister Resigns in Wake of Supermarket Collapse

54 were killed

RIGA—Latvia's Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis resigned Wednesday in a surprise move intended to show the government would take "political responsibility" for the collapse of a supermarket in the capital city last week that killed 54 people and injured dozens more.

A spokesman for the prime minister said Mr. Dombrovskis "is choosing to take political responsibility for the tragedy" and would explain his reasoning in more detail at a news conference at 1600 local time, 1400 GMT. The fall of Latvia's government comes a little more than one month before the country is set to become the second Baltic nation to join the euro zone.