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June 12, 2007 
One Injured in London Building Collapse

London
At least one person was injured when the top of a building next to Scotland Yard police headquarters in central London collapsed Tuesday, leaving the streets strewn with rubble and causing extensive damage to parked cars and motorbikes.

The two top floors of an office block were "ripped apart" by what sounded like an explosion, eyewitnesses said. The building had undergone renovation work, reports said.

"I was in the office opposite, when all of a sudden there was a loud bang. I thought it was a bomb," said Surinder Purewal, an employee at the Metropolitan Police Authority.

Pictures showed a white delivery van parked in the street below smashed by large blocks of masonry. The driver had left the vehicle seconds previously, an eyewitness told the BBC.

Chunks of rubble fell onto a row of motorbikes parked below. Aerial pictures taken by the BBC appeared to show that the tops of several houses in the street were taken off by the blast.

London Fire Service said around 50 firefighters were at the scene shortly after they were called shortly in mid-afternoon. Six fire engines, two fire and rescue units and two urban search and rescue vehicles rushed to the scene.

Dean Farrar Street, where the incident occurred, is home to the Ministry of Overseas Development, where hundreds of people work. Other government buildings, Westminster Abbey and Buckingham Palace are nearby.

"It would be phenomenal if there was only one casualty," said a BBC reporter on the scene. 

DPA | June 12, 2007  

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