13 injured by collapsed mezzanine at city bar
More than a dozen people were injured with four taken to hospitals and a major incident was declared by London Ambulance Service.
Station commander Sacha Clement, who was at the scene, said: “Firefighters carried out a systematic search of the building and rescued seven people from inside.
“They were trapped on the remaining part of the mezzanine floor and crews used a ladder to bridge between the floor and the internal staircase to get them safely out of the building.
“We worked with our emergency services partners and a number of people were treated at the scene and taken to hospital.”
Closed for now
A post on the bar’s Instagram stated the venue would remain closed “for now” and gave details of how anyone who had left items at the site could collect them.
It added: “At about 5pm today (Saturday), the mezzanine in our venue collapsed.
“Thankfully no one has sustained any critical injuries. This does mean the venue will remain closed for now and all dinner reservations and party bookings are cancelled.
“Our thoughts are with everyone that has been affected. We will provide more information as we have it. If anyone has any belongings to collect or needs any further information, please contact vasb@gjbzberlrnef.pb.hx.”
Major incident declared
A statement from London Ambulance Service strategic commander Brian Jordan confirmed it was called to Roach Road in Hackney Wick at 4.44pm on Saturday, to reports part of a building had collapsed.
He added: “We declared a major incident and dispatched a number of resources to the scene. This included incident response officers, advanced paramedics, tactical advisers, clinical team managers, units from our hazardous area response team and several ambulances and fast response unit car crews. We also dispatched teams from London’s Air Ambulance.
“We worked closely with emergency services partners and treated 13 people. Three patients had potentially serious injuries and 10 had more minor injuries. We took four people to hospitals and major trauma centres.”
Furthermore, London Mayor Sadiq Khan tweeted that his thoughts were with those affected by the incident before thanking the emergency services for their “swift action”.
