Lucky escape as Copthorne Hotel falls.
The seven floors of the Copthorne Hotel in central Christchurch collapsed in an uncontrolled fashion while undergoing demolition.
The hotel had one wall collapse unexpectedly as it was being demolished, leaving two other walls standing precariously.
At 1.30pm the walls were held together by seven concrete slabs, the floors. But in seconds those collapsed, reigning thousands of tonnes of concrete down into the centre, shocking everybody who was nearby.
Eyewitnesses say those who were working on the site looked as though they had an extremely close call at the time.
See footage of the collapse here or view the aftermath below.
