'Absolutely shocked' town councillor's lucky escape from ceiling collapse
Andreas Yiasimi, 60, holding a slab of the ceiling which collapsed onto his desk in Cromer on Saturday (June 18). - Credit: Andreas Yiasimi
A man who had been working at home had a lucky escape when a ceiling collapsed on his desk.
At around 4pm on Saturday (June 18), a slice of the ceiling in Andreas Yiasimi's house in Cromer plunged onto his work station, damaging his laptop and monitor.
Jagged slabs of plaster also landed on the chair he had vacated only seconds before.
On Wednesday (June 22), Mr Yiasimi, one of Cromer's most well-known people and member of the town and district councils, was still feeling "a little shaken".
A damaged patch of ceiling after slabs of plaster collapsed onto Andreas Yiasimi's desk at his home in Cromer. - Credit: Andreas Yiasimi
"But I'm fine," he said. "I was lucky."
The 60-year-old, who is also a photographer, had been working in his ground floor office in his family's home on St Mary's Road.
At around 10.30am, he noticed grains of dust floating onto his keyboard.
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"I couldn't understand where it was coming from and it stopped after a while," he said.
He made a coffee, put it on his desk and left the house for his daily walk at midday.
When he returned to work and took a sip of the coffee he thought it tasted "weird".
"There were little granules in it. I thought I hadn't washed the cup properly. I washed the cup and made another coffee."
He sat down and started working again.
About an hour and a half later, his daughter called him to go upstairs and sort through his mail.
Mr Yiasimi said, "I was reluctant to go but I thought, okay, and I eventually got up.
"I had walked halfway up the stairs when there was an almighty crash, it was like the house shook.
"My daughter ran out and said, 'Dad, are you alright?'"
When he returned to his office, he was "absolutely shocked".
"It came down with such force that bits of my keyboard weren't there anymore."
Chunks of plaster damaged a laptop in Andreas Yiasimi's office on Saturday (June 18). The Cromer man, who had left the room only seconds before, was lucky to escape injury. - Credit: Andreas Yiasimi
Chunks of plaster were also sitting in his chair.
"It's nothing short of a miracle I wasn't sitting there," he said.
The cause of the collapse is not yet known, but Mr Yiasimi has been speculating.
"In the 25 years we've lived here I experienced two earthquake tremors in that room.
"During the most recent one, a few years ago, the sash windows were trembling.
"Maybe that could have loosened things up?"
Chunks of ceiling sitting on the chair that Andreas Yiasimi had vacated only seconds earlier. - Credit: Andreas Yiasimi
Whatever the cause, Mr Yiasimi was "just glad" to be sitting his kitchen on Wednesday morning, enjoying a coffee.
"It could have been a lot worse" he said, "but I'm okay."
Debris from a ceiling collapse at a home in Cromer. - Credit: Andreas Yiasimi
Chunks of plaster damaged a laptop in Andreas Yiasimi's office on Saturday (June 18). The Cromer man, who had left the room only seconds before, was lucky to escape injury. - Credit: Andreas Yiasimi
Pieces of a ceiling fell onto a computer keyboard in Andreas Yiasimi's office in Cromer. - Credit: Andreas Yiasimi
