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A large section of a historic Dunedin retaining wall collapsed early today, piling debris over five cars and sparking a gas fire.
The wall was about 14 metres high, and the section which collapsed was around 20 metres long, Dunedin chief fire officer Dave Seque said.
It bordered a carpark behind some shops on Rattray Street in central Dunedin, and was thought to be well over 100 years old.
Mr Seque said the collapse happened just after 3am, and no-one was hurt.
As well as burying five cars, the masses of earth and rubble struck two 45kg LPG cylinders and ruptured one of them, sparking a fire.
Firefighters evacuated the residents of nearby apartments while the gas was dispersed, and the fire was left to burn itself out.
Mr Seque said the cars' owners had all been traced and informed.
The fire service had left the situation in the hands of insurance company assessors, he added.
The ownership of the wall had not yet been established as far as he knew.
"That has to be sorted out and before they can (clean up) engineers will have to see how safe it is and how the job will be done; there's a lot of work to be done."
- NZPA
