Three workers were lucky to escape with their lives on Saturday night after the building their were demolishing collapsed - plunging them 20 feet to the ground in a hail of debris.

Firefighters took just over an hour to free the men from the rubble of the Imperial Building on Church Street after it collapsed at about 5.45 p.m. on Saturday.

The workers, Victor Raposo, Antonio Rego and Dimis Ferreira, had gone into the building to examine an interior wall in a semi-demolished part of the over 100-year-old building when the floor they were standing on gave way.

They plunged more than 20 feet to the ground as two storeys collapsed under them and were partially buried by the rubble that crashed around them.

Although Government Health and Safety Inspector, Harry Powell said that he found no fault with the demolition company - Dynamic Excavation and Landscaping - he said the three men should never have walked into the building.

But the owner of Dynamic, Eddie Roque, said that it was a "stupid and unfortunate" accident and that his workmen were just "doing their job".

All three workmen, who were able to speak to firefighters while they were trapped, were safely rescued from the major industrial accident in over an hour.

Police spokesman Dwayne Caines said the first reports that the building had collapsed near the corner of Church and Burnaby Streets began at 5.46 p.m.

When The Royal Gazette reached the scene at 6.18 p.m. Mr. Caines called the scene "eerily reminiscent of September 11".

Church Street was closed to all traffic, apart from ambulances and fire trucks, but hordes of worried onlookers lined the sidewalk in the rain.

The first workman, Portuguese national Mr. Rego, 26, of Hamilton Parish, was pulled out of the rubble at 6.27 p.m. with a broken leg.

And after a tense 30 minute wait, Portuguese national Mr. Ferreira, 35, of Pembroke, was extracted from the collapsed building at 6.52 p.m. suffering from pains in his lower legs.

Mr. Ferreira made it out of the wreckage under his own steam, after a helping hand by Fire Service Personnel.

Attorney General Sen. Larry Mussenden and Permanent Secretary of Public Safety Robert Horton were among the anxious spectators. At 7 p.m. on Saturday Mr. Horton said he was "greatly relieved there seems to be no serious injury.

"I recognise one man still needs to be removed but I am made to understand that he is talking to the firemen. I congratulate the efficiency of the emergency services as they effect the rescue effort".

But after the third worker, Bermudian Victor Raposo, 44, of Southampton, was carefully extracted from the rubble by the mass of firemen, the street gave a huge cheer of relief that the crisis was over.

Mr. Caines said: "All three men were taken to King Edward VII Memorial Hospital, where Mr. Rego was treated for a broken leg, Mr. Ferreira treated for minor abrasions and Mr. Raposa, treated for minor abrasions.

Also attending the hospital were two men who witnessed the incident and received minor injuries when they attempted to rescue the trapped men".

Yesterday, two of the men, Mr. Rego and Mr. Raposa, were on a general ward of KEMH in "satisfactory condition" and Mr. Ferrera had been released, the KEMH nursing supervisor said.

Chief Insp. Andrew Boyce ius heading up a separate Police investigation into the accident.

The men were not up to talking to the press about their harrowing experience yesterday.

Fire Service spokesman Lt. Dana Lovell said yesterday that 30 firefighters were called to the accident scene.

"We used a halmetro hydraulic rescue tool," Lt. Lovell said. "This is primarily used for road traffic accidents when people are caged in a car, but they have a multi-functioned use."

He said that the Fire Service also used shovels and their hands to clear debris from the trapped workmen.

"When you get close to the victim you want to remove some of the rubble using your hands. You don't want to injure them with the tools," he said.

He said that 30 firefighters were at the scene on Saturday although only 15 were used for the digging.

"We sent a full response and expected the worse," he said. "But when we found out only part of the building had fallen down we found we could do the same job with 15 men."

He said they were in verbal contact with the workmen at all times and that they were only partially buried.

"We feel really gratified that the result was good. It was certainly a very good joint effort between Police, Fire and Ambulance," he said yesterday.

Government Health and Safety Inspector Harry Powell was also at the scene of the old Imperial hotel built sometime in the 1890s.

He told The Royal Gazette yesterday that Dynamic Excavation and Landscaping Company had been doing the demolition work.

Mr. Powell said that he had been working with Dynamic "right from the beginning days of the demolition. It was a very difficult building to demolish. The reason for that is the manner in which it was constructed to begin with. It was done during the war years," he said.

"They didn't have adequate materials. They used odd bits of steel in parts of the building. They had a system for demolition and it frankly didn't work because the building was starting to fall down in areas that they just didn't anticipate. That was when they created some problems and concerns for the general public," he said.

Ironically, it was after Dynamic had demolished the difficult section of the structure and began work on the more conventional side, that the accident took place.

"What happened yesterday was that they had been working all day and had finished work at around 5 p.m. Some of the guys had left the site. But the machine operator, Victor Raposo, and two other guys "for some reason were not happy with one of the interior walls they were working on".

"We are assuming that they had a concern about the stability of the wall. They went up to the edge of the excavation and then went into the building what they just should not have done."

Mr. Powell said his investigation was ongoing.

The owners of the building is Jardine Gibbons Properties who plan to build a five-storey office block in the hotel's place, to be used by the Gibbons Group of Companies as well as, reportedly, a local law firm.

A neighbouring premises, the Spot restaurant was reported to have suffered substantial damage to its roof and refrigeration equipment.

Eddie Roque's version of the accident was that his men "went for a walk around the building. They did not realise the floor was unsafe. It was stupid".

He said the men should have been allowed to go into the building because they were "three men on a job".

"They were doing their job. We were working next to another building and did not want that building to get damaged.

"From the outside it looked fine. But unknown to us, the floor was not put together well. An ordinary floor is not done like that. They did not secure the beams.

"Now that we know, we won't allow anyone in that part of the building. It was a stupid, unfortunate mistake," he said.

He said that all of the victim's families were relieved.

"It's a shock,"he said.