RESIDENTS in the apartment block told of their lucky escape.

Sarah Banfield, 21, who was rescued from the building, said: “My boyfriend and I were sitting in our bedroom when we heard an almighty bang.

“The whole building shuddered. We grabbed hold of each other because it seemed to go on for ages. We thought it was an earthquake. We looked down from our balcony and saw a girl sobbing. We tried to get out so opened our front door – we went through the emergency exit but it was full of falling debris.

“I stepped across a hole in the floor which had bits of metal sticking out of it, I don’t know how I did it. We got across and started running downstairs, but there was no way out on the ground floor because the door was blocked. We ran back upstairs to the second floor where a builder helped get us out. We got absolutely drenched because of the broken water pipes.”

Colin Hamilton, 31, was at work in Scotland Road when his father rang to say what had happened.

Speaking directly below his fourth-floor flat, he said: “It has wiped out my place.

“You can see it sticking through the roof.

“I have no idea what I am going to do now.”