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| Down Under |
| Bomb squad robot rescues bird |
| 2005-11-05 |
| A BOMB squad robot rescued a woman's pet bird today as police allowed some residents back into a block of apartments damaged in a Sydney road tunnel collapse. About 50 people were evacuated early on Wednesday when a section of the Lane Cove Tunnel project collapsed, undermining the apartment building and leaving a corner of the block hanging over a massive hole. With the hole now filled with concrete, residents from 18 of the units were briefly allowed home today to collect a few personal belongings. Accompanied by police bomb squad personnel, they gathered clothes and personal effects and stuffed them into suitcases before leaving the building for the second time in three days. Residents from units above the hole were not allowed home. But a bomb squad robot sent into the units also retrieved a pet bird forgotten by one resident when the block was hurriedly evacuated in the early hours of Wednesday. Tweety, a much-loved cockatiel belonging to Karen Bruce, was in a cage in an apartment above the unit that suffered the most damage in the collapse. After the robot emerged from her unit with the caged bird today, an emotional Ms Bruce ran to the two to three month-old cockatiel and held it up triumphantly. Soon, she was looking forward to taking Tweety out of the cage for a cuddle. "Tweety is a hand-reared cockatiel who likes daily contact," she explained. Asked how it was, she said: "I don't know. I'm not a vet, but she's had a bit of (water and) seed left and stuff, so she is quite content. "(But) it might be a quick rush to the vet." Many other belongings remain out of reach in the potentially dangerous building. "We won't be back in for a while and I'm quite emotional that we can't just get back in and get our wallets," Ms Bruce said. "But there's peace of mind there has been no loss of life." The evacuees were being put up in a hotel by the project's operators, but do not know when or if they will be allowed to return permanently to their properties. Two inquiries were announced today into the tunnel collapse, which opened up a hole about 10 metres wide and 10 metres deep near the Pacific Highway exit ramp from Longueville Road, swallowing up sections of the unit block. The crater has been filled with concrete to stabilise the building's foundations. Tunnel operator Thiess John Holland said an independent review would be undertaken by a world expert in rock mechanics, Professor Ted Brown. "That should give you the confidence that what we are talking about is transparent and is properly ... reviewed," said spokesman David Saxelby. He also announced that residents would be fully compensated. New South Wales Commerce Minister John Della Bosca said WorkCover inspectors would also examine the risk management processes used in the construction of the Lane Cove Tunnel as part of their investigation into the collapse. Their report would be tabled in Parliament. "The cause of the collapse, the systems of work in place at the time and any contributing factors are being examined as part of a full and thorough investigation," Mr Della Bosca said. |
| Posted by:God Save The World AKA Oztralian |