Two removal
men died and six others were injured today after a first floor balcony
collapsed outside a £7million apartment on one of London's most
exclusive streets.
The victims are believed to be part of a removal team carrying a sofa out of the luxury flat on Cadogan Square in Knightsbridge.
Local
MP Greg Hands said the combined weight of the workers and the furniture
caused the balcony to collapse, sending workmen and the sofa tumbling
around 30ft to the ground at 10am.
Witnesses
said at least one of the men was impaled on the iron railings below,
which were photographed by a Scotland Yard forensics team today.
One
of the workmen died in the street and another in a Paddington hospital,
while their six colleagues others were treated for minor injuries at
the scene.
Cadogan
Square is among London's most exclusive addresses with homes worth up
to £25million, with former residents including Jose Mourinho, Sven-Goran
Eriksson and Flavio Briatore.
People have
described their horror as they saw the balcony come down outside the
five-story building and then then scene as paramedics treated the
injured.
Witnesses also received treatment for shock.
The
square has been shut off today by police, who are investigating what
happened, and collating evidence in the flat and on the street.
It is not clear how many people were on the balcony and how many were below.
Vera
Skeete said his mother Theresa Roberts was left in shock by what she
saw at around 10.30am. Mr Skeete said: 'Mum was walking past and she saw
them laying on the floor. They were not even covered up. It gave her a
heart attack.'
Another witness said at least one man landed on sharp railings at ground level.
The resident said: 'I didn't see the accident happen, but I saw the aftermath. There was a lot of screaming and shouting.
'One man was impaled on the railings. He looked in a very bad way, I think he was one of the men who died'.
Cadogan Square has long been among the most prestigious addresses in London.
It
is the heart of Earl Cadogan's estate and lies just off Sloane Street,
where the capital's most exclusive haute couture boutiques are found.
It
is home to bankers and top executives and properties are also believed
to be owned by tycoon Flavio Briatore and entrepreneurial jeweller to
the stars, Theo Fennell.
In London flats it is quite common for large items like sofa, beds and pianos to be moved in or out via balconies.
Today pictures of the scene showed how ropes and a pulley system used to move the furniture was still in place.
Neighbour Abel Damoussi said there was lots of building work in the square, usually by well-known professional companies.
He said he had seen ropes hanging from the balcony, which had looked 'amateurish'.
He added that he heard an 'unusual commotion' in the usually peaceful square.
'There was a lot of noise, which we don't usually have that early in the morning,' he said.
'It was only when I came out the building and found Cadogan Square cordoned off that I realised something had happened.
'You don't attach ropes to a railing when you are going to remove a piece of furniture.
'Usually
an engineer can calculate the load bearing you can exert on such a
rail, especially when you can see the balcony is suspended'.
Sinclair
Johnston, an engineer who has worked on another property in the square,
said the decorative railings such as the one which collapsed cannot be
depended upon to support weight.
Speaking
at the scene, he said: 'These sort of constructions are always very
fragile and the iron railings can rust and the stone can become fragile
and break up so you never really know how strong they are.
A neighbour expressed safety concerns regarding the sheer number of building projects in the sought after square.
She said: 'It was waiting to happen because there's so much building going on here.
'The buildings are shaken from the ground.'
It's OK in
an ordinary way but if you put any pressure on them, if you lean on
them, there's no way of knowing - you can't depend on them.
'It's something that engineers are very aware of. The ironwork is incredibly heavy so if it falls off it can be a disaster.
'The buildings were built in around 1890 and I should think the railings are original or have been
Speaking on Sky News, Tory MP Greg Hands said he understood those injured to be removal men.
The
area is full of residential property, with many of the buildings
divided into flats.The iron railing appears to have fallen away, though
the brick base does not appear to be damaged.
A number of long ropes are hanging from the balcony to the ground where plastic sheets are gathered.
A police tent has been erected on the pavement and the street has been closed to the public.
An eye witness described being told by police to get back inside his home minutes after the accident.
The man, called Jason, said: 'I was shouted at by police to get back indoors.
'I live in a basement and I'm a smoker so I wanted to go outside as the wife would kill me if I smoke indoors.
'I opened the door and the police were everywhere. One shouted at me 'if you haven't seen anything get back inside', so I did.'
Raj
Ramanoop, who lives in the square, said he had been alerted by a friend
in a nearby embassy who initially told him scaffolding had come down.
Mr Ramanoop said: 'By the time I got back here the police had cordoned off the whole street.
'I
heard it was a sofa or furniture - we don't know whether it was coming
in or going out because you don't look at these things.'
An
London Ambulance Service spokesman said: 'We were called at 9.58am to
Cadogan Square to reports of an incident. We sent three ambulance crews,
an advanced paramedic, a hazardous area response team and London's Air
Ambulance.
'We treated eight patients. Every effort was made to rescusitate a patient but sadly one man died.'
Scotland Yard said officers, paramedics and an air ambulance were called to the square.
A
spokesman said: 'One man was pronounced dead and the scene. A second
man was taken to a central London hospital in a critical condition where
he later died.
'An investigation is underway to establish the circumstances'.
They said they are trying to find the next of kin and the Health and Safety Executive and the local council have been informed.
London
Fire Brigade Station Manager Richard Scrivener, who was at the scene,
said: 'When we arrived we made the scene safe, securing parts of the
iron balcony that had broken away in the fall.
'Crews
assisted London Ambulance Service to provide first aid to those injured
in the fall as well as to a number of onlookers who were suffering from
shock.'
Caroline
Jennings of Cadogan Estates, who property in the area, said: 'It's
incredibly sad. It's not our property and we are not involved'.