16 hurt in building collapse
2006-03-26 22:41
London - Sixteen people were taken to hospital on Sunday after the floor of a packed building collapsed during a funeral wake in Birmingham, central England, in an accident officials said might have claimed lives.
The West Midlands Ambulance Service said the casualties had been taken to two hospitals and had conditions ranging from fractures to respiratory conditions.
A fire-service official said the floor collapsed from the sheer weight of numbers, with more than 25 people injured as they fell into the basement in the terraced house in the Handsworth area of Britain's second city.
Ambulance service spokesperson Steve Parry said they sent a fleet of vehicles to the house after receiving an initial call at 13:08.
He said two children were among the injured, but there were no life-threatening injuries.
"Our guy on the front line describes it as very, very fortunate and very lucky that people did not have serious injuries," Parry said, given the nature of the collapse.
Everybody had managed to get out from the rubble, he said.
More than 70 people were crammed into the former corner shop when the ground floor buckled and fell through into the cellar.
The building was thought to be about 140 years old.