A SECTION of ceiling tiles collapsed inside a bank in Albury yesterday, injuring a woman.
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The Commonwealth Bank in Dean Street was evacuated just after 4pm while the ceiling was secured.
A woman, 56, was struck with a light fitting after the tiles came crashing down.
She was taken to hospital on a spinal board and treated for minor injuries.
Volunteer Rescue Association’s Paul Marshall said the situation was under control on their arrival.
Mr Marshall said some contractors were working on wiring from the suspended ceiling when the incident occurred.
“One of the men removed a tile and the whole lot came down,” he said.
“The tradies were able to pull some of the remaining ceiling down and secured it.
“We were expecting to use our tools to prop the ceiling up, but they weren’t needed.”
Police, paramedics, firefighters, Volunteer Rescue Association members and WorkCover NSW attended the scene.
One witness, who asked not to be named, was sitting outside the Bended Elbow when he saw a woman being carried out on a stretcher.
“We have been sitting out here the whole time and there wasn’t any noise, nothing to say anything was going on until police arrived,” he said.
“Now there are people everywhere trying to see what is going on inside the bank.”
The Bended Elbow’s Mason Bishop was walking back to work after a break and noticed the flurry of people peering through the windows to see what had happened.
“I wasn’t sure what was going on, but there were a lot of people looking,” he said.