Festival Launch In Perth Evacuated As Floor Collapses

Media and sponsors were forced to evacuate Perth's Flying Scotsman last night after the floor began to collapse during the launch of the Beaufort Street Festival.

With approximately 120 people gathered on the venue's upper level, believed to be about two-thirds of the capacity, the floor gave way about ten minutes into speeches.

Aaron Rutter of JumpClimb, who manage the festival, told theMusic.com.au today that they heard a “big smash sound and the floor dropped a considerable amount”. The bottles at the bar smashing on the ground, a “calm and organised evacuation” was carried out and everyone was accounted for without injury.

The Music Perth's Mark Neal was in attendance and reports, “It felt like the foundations for half the building had shifted slightly. The room was on an angle, and all the bottles fell off the wall. Where the bottles had fallen off the wall, I could see where the bricks had separated. There was a lot of expensive scotch on the floor.”

In a statement the venue said last night, “Due to a structural fault we have had to close the entire venue (Defectors Bar and the Velvet Lounge included) for the remainder of this evening as a safety precaution. We will have the best pub in P-town back up and running, business as usual, as soon as possible. Thank you for your patience and apologies for any inconvenience this may have caused.”

The venue has not responded to theMusic.com.au's call today, but eye witness and social media speculation suggests that lengthy assessment and structural repairs may be required.

The event was to launch the festival's 2013 program, which can be viewed on their website.