WorkSafe investigating after Auckland home demolition goes awry

A home demolition in New Zealand has triggered an emergency situation after a digger accidentally rammed a concrete wall into a neighbouring property and sparked a gas leak.

Bystanders were filming two diggers crumbling sections of the Pt Chevalier home in Auckland when one of the excavators extended its tray past a sheet of corrugated roof and butted the concrete outer wall of the home.

As a man’s voice bellowed “No, Les”, the towering wall of bricks tumbled and smashed into the neighbour’s yard resting heavily on the side of their house.

“Ah, you dumb s---,” the same man can be heard saying as the wall split and bricks rained down.

As a silence filled the site, the dusk swirling skyward, a low and persistent hiss could be heard.

“Hey, that’s gas!” one bystander yelled at the driver.

A chorus of voices each screamed “it’s gas” to alert the driver and he cut the machine’s engine.

“You are an idiot,” a female’s voice, believed to be a resident of the home, can be heard yelling at the driver. “Hey babe, get everyone out.”

WorkSafe has shut down the site with a number of investigations into the incident underway, The New Zealand Herald reports.