An eyewitness has described the dramatic moments after part of an apartment block collapsed in Germasogeia at midday on Holy Saturday, saying residents screamed for help as neighbours rushed to pull people from the debris.
The witness, a neighbour who lives in the area where the incident happened, told Philenews he was sitting in a yard with other people when they heard a very loud noise.
“We turned and saw a balcony falling,” he said.
He said the building had split and people started running out from inside.
“They were shouting, and there were injured people. Most of the people living inside were foreign nationals,” the witness said, adding that he immediately called the police and fire service, which he said arrived at the scene without delay.
“The noise was very loud. Half the building fell. It threw up a lot of dust, and you could hear injured people inside shouting for help. We went closer, and we ran to help. We got people out. Another person was shouting from the side. My best man went over and could see him and told him to stay calm. Another person was hanging from the window, on a piece that was left, and he could not get away from there,” he said.
Residents who were at the scene from the first moments also stressed the swift response by police and the fire service. They said the emergency crews arrived within minutes and went straight into the rubble, lifting stones, finding injured people, calming them and helping them out.
An operation to free one trapped person was still underway at the time of reporting.
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