Wall collapse claims third victim
Date
March 31, 2013 - 11:06AM
The 18-year-old woman crushed in Thursday afternoon's Swanston Street wall collapse has died.
Bridget Jones passed away at the Royal Melbourne Hospital this morning at about 6.30am.
Ms Jones was the sister of 19-year-old Alexander Jones, who also died while trying to shield his sister from the falling debris.
Tributes have been left at a makeshift memorial.
The other woman killed in the incident, believed to be a Mount Waverley woman aged in her 30s, is yet to be formally identified.
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Police have renewed calls for witnesses to come forward.
The parents of the two teenagers who died expressed their grief and thanked those who tried to help their children.
Ian and Sue Jones said they were ''devastated by the terrible circumstances surrounding their beautiful children.''
The parents paid tribute to the third victim of the wall collapse and to the strangers who stopped to help after the wall collapsed on Swanston Street in Carlton on Thursday afternoon.
"We understand people who were passing by and the emergency services did everything that they could and we are so grateful these people tried their best for our children. We would also like to thank members of Victoria Police and staff at The Royal Melbourne Hospital who have been so caring and respectful," they said in a statement made from the hospital on Saturday.
"We would like to thank our family and friends and the friends of Alexander and Bridget, the Montmorency Secondary College community, and many others who have sent in their wishes and offered support. We would ask that people respect our privacy at this very sad and difficult time."
Friends of siblings gathered on Saturday at the site to leave tributes and comfort each other.
Dozens of teenage friends of Alexander Jones left two-minute noodles and the Melbourne University student's favourite chocolate bars as they comforted each other at the makeshfit memorial.
Other friends wrote tributes in chalk on the path where the brick wall collapsed, killing Alexander and Bridget Jones and a woman in her 30s.
Alexander Jones was killed reportedly trying to save his sister, who he was walking to a university class when the wall collapsed shortly before 3pm on Thursday.
A Facebook memorial page set up on Saturday carried condolences to the Jones family.
Friends said the Jones family had asked them not to talk to reporters, but they left their tributes in chalk on the pavement.
"We cannot let you go yet. We love you too much to say goodbye," one wrote in chalk.
"To our gorgeous Panda & Bridgy for being the best buds out. You'll always be my wizard," wrote another.
Mr Jones was known as Zander to some friends while others called him Panda and many stuffed pandas were brought to the wall tribute site.
WorkSafe and police are investigating the incident. The red brick wall, about 2.4 metres high, toppled onto the footpath on the western side of Swanston street. The collapsed segment was about 15 metres long.
Locals walking past the site on Friday morning expressed their shock. One, Aruna Prasad, left a teddy bear and chocolate carrot in honour of the victims.
"It just bought tears to my eyes because I'm a mother and a grandmother and I pass this way to go to the market all the time ... and it just hurt me because they are all young people," she said. "It's very sad."
Others left flowers. Several residents described it as an accident waiting to happen.
Fitzroy resident Peter Coyle said he could not believe what had happened.
"This place looks like Uluru," he said of the red dust that now covers the footpath where the brick wall crumbled to the ground.
Police are appealing for any witnesses who saw the incident, or who were injured when the wall collapsed, to come forward.
Police believe several other people suffered injuries but left the scene before speaking to authorities.
"Our advice from the fire brigade is that there were other people injured but those people have left the scene through fear of remaining... in that they weren't entirely sure what the incident was, whether it was a wall collapsing or something on a larger scale," said Detective Senior Constable Brooke Manley from the Melbourne North Crime Investigation Unit.
"So they've cleared the area and we haven't been able to identify those people."
She said other witnesses may be able to provide further information or footage documenting what occurred.
"Other witnesses may have seen something else or be further able to assist us with not only witness accounts, but in this day and age with a lot of mobile phone devices and things like that, possibly footage," she said.
Detective Manley described the incident as "horrendous" and said Victoria Police was working with WorkSafe to prepare a report for the coroner.
"It's an unfortunate very tragic accident that's occurred on the eve of a long weekend. The families involved are devastated," she said.
with Kristian Silva
Read more:
http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/wall-collapse-claims-third-victim-20130331-2h12d.html#ixzz2P4ZPwXJh