Facade of a Building Collapsed in the Center of Sofia (VIDEO)

The facade of a building collapsed in downtown Sofia on a roadway and sidewalk. A video taken by a citizen and distributed by BNT shows that part of a wall of the Telephone Chamber at 26 Oborishte Street is falling.

The incident took place on the corner of Asen Zlatarov Street at around 11 a.m. on Friday morning. Miraculously, there were no casualties.

Amateur footage clearly shows the demolition mower deliberately pushing the facade to fall.

The building is currently being demolished to begin construction of luxury homes. The project is for 5 floors with 12 apartments, and two underground - with an elevator for cars, there will be a parking lot with 35 places, Dnevnik reported.

The National Institute for Immovable Cultural Heritage (NIICH) then explained to the media that the Telephone Chamber does not have an individual status of immovable property, but is part of a group - "Doctor's Monument" residential area - and therefore has no "conservation regime" as an architectural landmark.

An expert from the municipality told Nova TV later that the building is currently owned by a real estate company, which "to some extent does what it needs to do" and to some extent does not.

An act under the Law on Administrative Violations and Penalties is now awaiting them. It will be sent to Sofia Municipality, where a penal decree will be issued. It is there that they will assess the exact amount of the sanction they will impose - by law it is from BGN 5,000 to BGN 500,000.

The builders were issued four instructions for additional strengthening of the facades on the streets, the Sofia Municipality announced. They promised that "from now on, more careful demolition will be carried out." Anyway, the more...