Hundreds evacuated from New Zealand Olympics party after barbecue explosion

 
A mobile phone image of the fire at Kiwi House near King's Cross in central London after a gas canister being used for a barbeque exploded.
PA
9 August 2012

Up to 700 people have been evacuated from New Zealand's Olympics hospitality house after a fire.

Emergency services are in attendance at Kiwi House near King's Cross in central London after a gas canister being used for a barbecue exploded.

Hundreds of New Zealanders who have come to London for the Games had gathered for a party before the blaze started.

Brook Johnstone, 55, from Port Waikato, said: "I looked around and the gas bottle had a little flame around it.

"The cook was trying to put it out and the flame just got bigger so I just said 'Let's get out of here'.

"We got inside and everyone was evacuated."

Mr Johnstone, who is in London on holiday, said the canister exploded with such force that it blew the roof off the barbecue area.

New Zealander and Leeds University student Sonia Holland said she did not believe anyone was injured in the blaze.

The 19-year-old, from Napier, said: "I literally just got my food and there was a big kerfuffle around the barbecue area.

"Then everyone was pushed inside but then people were telling us to get out of the building.

"They got everyone out of the building as fast as they could. I was out within two minutes."

She said when she looked back at the building she could see fire and smoke coming from the garden of the building.

Ms Holland, who is also working as a volunteer Games Maker at the Olympics, added that she was not aware of any athletes in attendance.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Sign up you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy notice .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in