The roof of a Sandton office park caved in on Tuesday afternoon, but no one was trapped or injured, said paramedics.
At the time, the staff had been attending a braai in the basement of the two-storey building in Wierda Road, said ER24 spokesperson Riana Beech.
”According to some of the people in the building, it sounded like an earthquake and they felt the bricks fall down,” she said.
Employees told rescue workers there had been no warning of what was to come and no one could explain why the roof ”just collapsed”. There had been no work done on it and no plumbing repairs either.
The whole left flank of the U-shaped building was affected, said Beech. Not only the roofing tiles came down, but the rafters and ceiling too. Tattered pink strips of insulation could be seen hanging from the remains.
Firemen made sure nobody was trapped in the building — thought to house the offices of a camera company — shortly after the incident at 2.30pm, said Johannesburg emergency services spokesperson Stephen Kirk.
While Kirk described the office park as a new development, Beech said at least one employee claimed to have worked there for seven years.
Not even scene safety officers were being allowed in to see the extent of the damage or even get too close to the building, she said, adding: ”There could be structural damage.”
The staff were evacuated to an area at the front of the building, inside the main gates.
Beech said they would remain there until a building inspector and fire prevention officer had been through the premises and determined whether it was safe to let them back in to fetch their equipment and cars. — Sapa