A gas leak prompted the evacuation of people from an area in central Dunedin this afternoon.
A police spokeswoman said emergency services responded to the leak in a car park in Great King St, in the vicinity of Albion Lane.
Firefighters were alerted about 2.30pm and police officers responded about 20 minutes later to assist with traffic management, the spokeswoman said.
Three Fire and Emergency New Zealand appliances could be seen at the car park, along with crews wearing breathing apparatus.
Senior Station Officer Simon Smith, of Dunedin City station, said when crews arrived there was a strong smell of gas in the air and people were evacuated from the area.
The gas was found to be leaking from a pipe in some earthworks, he said.
Crews used water fog to contain the gas until it was able to be shut off, SSO Smith said.
A Dunedin City Council spokesman said an underground gas lateral had failed.
The incident was still being investigated, but council contractors were not working near the lateral when the pipe failed.
A Genesis Energy spokesman earlier said a construction company had holed a gas pipe while working in the area.
The DCC spokesman said its contractor would be followed up with to understand what happened and to ensure they are taking all necessary precautions to minimise risks.
Work was being undertaken on the site to make it safe and to repair the pipe.
Work at the site would be paused once the repair was complete until a full debrief had been conducted.
