Miraculous escape as house collapses

PALMA
JUST after one o'clock yesterday afternoon, the centre of Santa Maria was shaken by the collapse of a three metre wall which went crashing through the roof of a neighbouring property.

Fortunately, Margalida, the owner of the damaged two-storey house was on the ground floor when the falling wall brought the roof down as it smashed on to the first floor.

Margalida's house in Plaza Hostals is sandwiched between a real estate agency and a three-storey building under construction.
It was one of the ten centimetre-thick walls being erected on the top floor of the building site which came away and crashed onto to her old house causing serious damage. Fortunately for Margalida, she was downstairs and her two daughters were out when disaster struck. As soon as she heard the deep rumble of crashing brickwork she rushed into the street.

CORDONED OFF
The construction site foreman raised the alarm immediately and within minutes the Local Police, Guardia Civil and fire fighters from Inca and Lluchmajor were at the scene which was cordoned off for safety reasons.

The Mayor of Santa Maria, Rosa Vich, also attended the scene.
Her primary concern was for the well-being of Margalida and her family.
The council yesterday provided her family with a home to live in while the damaged property is repaired.
The owner of the plot on which the property was being constructed, has been a neighbour of Margalida for years and yesterday gave assurances that between him, the developer and the insurance company, they will find a way of covering the costs of the damage caused. Police sources said that one possible cause was that cement was still wet and did not hold the wall between the pillars.

Fire fighters spent the best part of two hours at the scene inspecting the two properties making sure that no further objects would fall from the property under construction and that the structure of Margalida's house had not been seriously damaged. Last night fire service sources said that only the structure of the second floor had been damaged. However council structural engineers are expected to inspect both of the properties today.