A0501,-504,-506,0205 Several People Trapped in London Apartment Building Collapses

The Associated Press Published: Jul 20, 2001

LONDON (AP) - As many as 10 people were trapped when an apartment building collapsed in north London on Friday morning, police and rescue workers said. The three-story building in the working-class district of Tottenham collapsed just after 8 a.m., police said.

Emergency crews sealed off the area, close to a local soccer stadium, and were sifting through the rubble.

Police said three people, believed to be residents of the building, were helped to safety - a man, a woman and a baby girl. They were hospitalized with minor injuries.

Another woman was also believed to have suffered minor injuries, a London Ambulance spokesman said.

The apartments were above a row of shops on the area's main street, White Hart Lane. Ambulance workers said they believed several people may have been in the ground-floor shop when the building collapses.

"We can confirm that at 8:25 a.m. police responded to reports of a building collapsing in White Hart Lane," a Metropolitan Police spokesman said.

At least three ambulances and several other emergency vehicles were at the scene.

AP-ES-07-20-01 0622EDT

-- Anonymous, July 20, 2001

Answers

BBC - Friday, 20 July, 2001, 09:38 GMT 10:38 UK

Five feared trapped in building collapse

A three-storey building in north London has collapsed trapping up to five people.

Builders were on site when a shop and two flats above it in White Hart Lane, partially collapsed on Friday morning.

Four people, including a baby girl, have so far been rescued.

One woman who suffered minor injuries is in hospital, a London Ambulance Service spokeswoman told BBC News Online.

The area, near Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, has been cordoned off as firefighters use thermal imaging equipment and microphones to search the rubble for the missing people.

It is thought that up to five people may still be trapped.

Assistant Divisional Officer Tony Agar, of the London Fire Brigade, told the BBC that one person was found lying in the road after having been thrown from the building.

Firefighters have so far rescued a man, woman and child from a second floor flat using a hydraulic platform.

Mr Agar said builders were doing renovation work but added that it was too soon to confirm the cause of the collapse.

"We are always hopeful that those who are trapped in there are alive," he said.

He said: "Only the front of the building has collapsed but there is a danger of further collapse."

Emergency services were called to the building at 0830BST.

The Air Ambulance is also on site.

-- Anonymous, July 20, 2001