Two people have been confirmed dead after a construction wall of bricks fell in Melbourne's CBD. Courtesy: Sky News
THE two people killed when a heritage-listed brick wall collapsed in Swanston Street looked like university students, witnesses say.
The Metropolitan Fire Brigade and Victoria Police have confirmed that two were killed when the wall collapsed at a Grocon site just before 3pm today.
Rubble fell across the footpath on Swanston St, in between Victoria and Queensberry Streets.
The victims, in their late teens, were pedestrians and the accident happened near an RMIT University building.
Acting Inspector Ian Lindsay said roads would be closed for two hours while police removed the deceased people from the site.
"It's definitely a bad start to Good Friday and its a matter of being in the wrong place at the wrong time," Inspector Lindsay said.
Emergency crews after the collapse. Picture: Mati Safi/Twitter
Police, city engineers, a coroner and Workplace inspectors are on site.
CFMEU state secretary John Setka, who was in his union office across the road, said that the victims appeared to be students.
"They looked young to me, they looked like students, maybe 20 years old," he said.
Mr Setka said he was among CFMEU members who helped lifted a wooden hoarding off the victims.
Pesestrians rush to help people caught under the horror wall collapse. Picture: Jonathan Lian/Twitter
A man and a woman were near each other, while another woman was at a separate part of the collapsed wall, he said.
He said the CFMEU first aiders helped treat one woman who had survived, until ambulance officers and firefighters arrived.
But the man and the other woman appeared to have died instantly, he said.
"I was in a meeting and someone said the wall had collapsed," he said.
"We thought it was one person there but we started lifting (the wooden hoarding) and there was another person.
"There was another one up the other end."
Mr Setka said the incident was terrible.
"This is absolutely tragic," he said.
"Maybe it was just a freak gust of wind and three poor kids happened to be there."
An aerial shot of the Melbourne CBD wall collapse. Picture: Fred Zhang
Jonathan Lian, a university student, said the scene was shocking.
"I was the first on the scene, I saw it happen," he said.
"There was a huge thunderclap, it was really, really loud and people were rushing about in all different directions."
Mr Lian said there were about three or four people near the wall when it fell.
"One guy barely got away," he said.
Building inspectors survey the damage at the site of the collapse. Picture: Mark Dadswell
"The police are here and ambulances."
A man and a woman were killed in the accident and another person was seriously injured and taken to the Royal Melbourne Hospital.
Building workers rushed to the wall when it collapse to prevent further falls, Seven News reported.
And pictures emerging on twitter show officer workers and witnesses frantically trying to pull bricks away from the wall and rescue people.
Firefighters were also on the scene trying to clear the debris.
The Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union confirmed that the accident happened on a Grocon site.
"It is a Grocon site, it's the former CUB site," spokeswoman Anaya Latter said.
She said that members of the public were believed to be the victims.
CFMEU secretary John Setka told the ABC that it was " a tall brick wall, in front of it were sheets of timber...the whole lot has come down."
The accident happened in an area regularly used by university students and is in between the an RMIT building and Melbourne University.
WorkSafe is now investigating the accident.
"We have two investigators and two inspectors on site," spokesman Peter Flaherty said.
The wall was three metres high and 20 metres long, he said.
The CUB site had been vacant for 17 years but is being developed into apartments, Grocon's website says.
"The heritage listed old bluestone walls of the brewery façade facing Bouverie Street, as well as the redbrick Malthouse opening on to Swanston Street, will also be preserved," the website says.
Victoria Police confirmed in a statement that two people had died as a result of the collapsed wall.
"Emergency services are currently on the scene of an incident in Carlton where its believed a wall has collapsed on a number of pedestrians," the statement said.
"The incident, which occurred at the corner of Swanston Street and Cornell Place, was reported to police just before 3pm and its believed a man and a woman have been killed as a result."
Police said that the a second woman was injured and taken to the Royal Melbourne Hospital in a serious condition.
Grocon deputy chief Carolyn Viney said the company was investigating.
"We extend our sympathies to the families of those killed and to the person injured, and we also thank those who worked at the scene to assist in trying to rescue them," she said.
"This is a terrible tragedy for all concerned, particularly coming at this time of year when people are preparing for the Easter break."
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