Thousands evacuated after ‘loud crack’ in Sydney tower

Australian police evacuated thousands of people in west Sydney
late Christmas Eve, after residents reported hearing a “loud crack”
from a 38-storey building.

About 3,000 people from inside the tower and in nearby buildings
were told to leave late Monday, with engineers investigating after
the apartment complex moved “one or two millimetres”.

“Police received a call to a loud crack on level 10 of the
building located behind us,” New South Wales Fire and Rescue acting
superintendent Greg Wright said from outside the Opal Tower
complex.

Police “identified there was a crack in the building”, he added,
alerting emergency services.

An AFP photographer at the scene said following an inspection of
Opal Tower by engineers and firefighters, police were allowing
residents of the surrounding buildings to return to their
homes.

Some residents of Opal Tower were also allowed to return,
although not those living in the section of the building where the
crack had been found.

It was unclear when those residents would be allowed back into
the building, with a temporary shelter set up at a nearby hall.

“I have been told by engineers it (the building) has moved one
or two millimetres,” detective superintendent Philip Rogerson told
reporters, without going into detail.

A police spokesperson said the building was 38 storeys high.

The apartment tower located in Sydney’s Olympic Park complex was
recently built, opening this year with 392 apartments, according to
national broadcaster the ABC.

“We are aware of the concerns that have arisen with the Opal
building and confirm that the builder has been notified,” a
spokesman from the development company told the ABC.

(AFP)

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