Balcony held on by just 12 nails
RACHEL OLDING March 03, 2013
Like a ''war zone''… the collapsed balcony in Lane Cove. Photo: Ben Rushton
It was supposed to be a night of celebration for the Bangs family. Five brothers, their parents, girlfriends and extended family had gathered at a Lane Cove home to farewell Nick Bangs, 32, his wife, Lucy, 31, and their nine-month-old son, Billy, before they headed back to China the next morning.
The tight-knit north shore family had enjoyed dinner and each other's company on the back deck of the duplex home. At 10.30pm on Wednesday, after tea and coffee, it was time to get going.
But as Nick and Lucy rose to their feet, tragedy struck. "We'd had a lovely night, the plates had been cleared and we were having coffee and I remember a couple of others said they'd get going too," Nick said. "As soon as we stood up, we heard this almighty crack and the whole thing just imploded under us."
The horrific second-floor balcony collapse made headlines around the country but, miraculously, all 11 people on it survived.
Lucy was the worst injured and will be in hospital for at least eight weeks, requiring several rounds of surgery and rehabilitation for a fractured pelvis, two fractured feet and numerous other fractures to her wrists, fingers and arms.
Nick's father, Ian, is also being monitored but his brothers, Tim, 30, Ed, 25, Charlie, 23 and Tom, 23, his mother, Bronwyn, Tim's fiancee, Alison Henning, Charlie's girlfriend, Alice Twomey, and Alice's siblings Chris and Lizzy Twomey have since been released from hospital.
While Nick Bangs says they are relieved and thankful the injuries were not worse, they suffered a terrifying experience.
Lizzy Twomey, who was washing up inside her family home, heard a loud crack and looked up to see everyone gone from her sight.
Some landed on a first-floor ledge while others fell six metres onto concrete. Furniture then rained down on them.
With the tipped balcony hovering dangerously above, those who could walk quickly moved others to safety.
After paramedics arrived, they worked through the chaos as though it was bomb scene. Red and green tags separated those who could walk from those who could not and six ambulances carted the family members to Royal North Shore Hospital.
"It was like a war zone," Nick said. "I remember looking to my right and dad had blood all over him, and a mouthful of grass. I looked down and Ed was standing up with blood pouring from his head.''
The balcony, which had previously hosted parties of 40, was held on by just 12 nails, the family believes.
The mayor of Lane Cove, Scott Bennison, said the building might have been poorly certified by a private operator. The matter was now in the hands of the insurer.
He will write to the Planning Minister, Brad Hazzard, to ask for changes to the private certification system.
"Councils need more than a passive role," he said. "Certification documents are lodged with us and we have no power to challenge them. We want to be able to intervene so these sorts of tragedies don't happen."
After a few sleepless nights, the Bangs family is coming to terms with the accident.
"Lucy is the most positive of all of us and that's keeping us in good spirits," Nick said. "It was a horrific thing to go through and we're still quite shocked by it all but in some ways we count ourselves extremely lucky.''