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| Hole in street may have led
to horror building collapse |
Mini-avalanche of rubble leaves
neighbours terrified as wall falls down
NEIGHBOURS have described
how a Holloway man narrowly escaped death when the walls of his
house collapsed around him as he lay in bed.
Fire chiefs said the man, who is 40 and has not been identified,
was forced to scramble to safety across rubble from his first-floor
bedroom. They found him in a dazed state on the street.
The collapse, thought to be due to nearby building work, happened
at 7.30am on Sunday. The man would have been enjoying a weekend
lie-in before being awoken by dust and rubble and the terrifying
sound of his home collapsing, and lef starng from his bed onto
the street, neighbours said.
Residents told how the three-storey Georgian house at first split
in two, then came crashing to the ground, leaving bedrooms and
bookshelves visible from the street.
A 51 year-old bus driver, who lives on the Benwell Road terrace,
said: “The building just split right in half. We were just
about to have breakfast at about 7.30am and there was a huge crashing
noise. My girlfriend said it felt like a mini avalanche.”
He said: “People were made to sit outside until 5pm and by
that point they were on the verge of riot. People were just sitting
on the walls and there was one woman still in her nightie.”
Blue Watch fire fighters from Holloway were on site for nine hours
searching for survivors and set up a 100-metre exclusion zone.
A Clerkenwell-based developer has come under fire after initial
investigations revealed contractors were digging a hole next to
the end-of-terrace building, in Benwell Road, and may have undermined
the foundations.
Most of the houses are owned by housing association Circle 33,
however, the building that collapsed is privately owned.
The hole next to the house was being dug as part of the conversion
by Carrot Ltd, based in Britton Street, of the Victorian-era City
and Islington College.
Four homes and a total of 16 people were evacuated and gas and
electricity were switched off.
Plasterer Joseph Smith, 43, and his wife Noella, claimed they
were forced to make their own arrangements for accommodation.
He said: “I just heard a boom and the next thing we were
evacuated onto the street. There’s not been so much as a
written note explaining what has happened.”
Circle 33 said on Monday that all displaced residents have been
offered free-of-charge bed and breakfast accommodation. |
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