Inquiry into rescue efforts at CTV building

Police are seeking video of rescue efforts at the Canterbury Television building in which 115 people were killed when it collapsed in Christchurch's February earthquake.

They want the footage to aid their investigation of claims by families of some victims that not enough was done to rescue some of those trapped alive in the rubble who later died.

More than half the 182 people killed in the quake were in the CTV building.

One of them, mother-of-two Tamara Cvetanov, spoke by cellphone to her husband, Srecko, on and off for almost three hours while trapped.

Mr Cvetanov wants to know why she could not have been rescued in that time.

Detective Inspector David Long said police were seeking any video images of the search and rescue phase after the building collapsed on February 22.

Police were duty-bound to investigate issues that "may or may not have contributed'' to quake deaths and were approaching the question with an open mind, Mr Long said.

There was clearly a period when people were trapped after the building collapsed, and some victims' families had raised questions about why they were not rescued.

"Whether they could have been rescued or not, I don't know, and that's something we will have to step through,'' Mr Long said.

"Whether police can give a definitive answer on that, I don't know either.''

Mr Cvetanov's lawyer, Nigel Hampton, QC, said his client wanted an independent review or ministerial inquiry at which he could make his claims that there was a period of inaction after the collapse and "a series of rather inept actions'' that played a part in his wife's death.

Mr Long said the results of the investigation would go to the coroner looking into the earthquake deaths.

There was no "definitive suggestion'' of any criminal liability attached to the action or inaction of any search and rescue personnel, he said.

A royal commission of inquiry is looking into the failure of buildings in the February quake, but the performance of rescuers is not in its scope.

- Jarrod Booker of the New Zealand Herald

 

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