Alexander's and Bridget's parents leaving their funeral carrying framed photos of their children. Source: News Limited
THE devastated parents of Alexander and Bridget Jones, who were killed in last year’s city wall collapse, have broken their silence about the tragic loss of their children.
Tomorrow will mark the first anniversary of the horrific accident that claimed the siblings’ lives as they walked down Swanston St on their way back to university after a lunch break.
A third pedestrian, Marie-Faith Fiawoo, was also killed when the brick wall collapsed on them.
Ian and Sue Jones today spoke for the first time about the incident, releasing a statement to the Herald Sun.
Bridget Jones, 18, and Alexander Jones, 19, were killed when a wall collapsed on them in Swanston St. Source: News Limited
The couple paid tribute to their “amazing” children, saying their loss had been even more painful because they died while simply walking on a city footpath.
“We understand the public interest in the tragic events of the 28th March last year when our children and Marie-Faith Fiawoo were killed when a wall from the Grocon site in Swanston St collapsed onto the footpath,” the couple said in their statement.
“Over the past 12 months we have been touched by the numerous community groups and organisations which Alexander and Bridget were involved in, who have chosen to honour them by establishing scholarships and awards in their names as well as establishing memorials to them.
Mourners lay flowers in memory of those killed in the Swanston St tragedy. Source: News Limited
“Other organisations, who didn’t know them personally but were touched by the circumstances of their deaths, have also instigated programs to assist young people who are in need.
“All these things are indicative of the wonderful, caring and community minded young people they were.
“They really were amazing young people and we miss them dearly.
“The fact that we lost them both when they were doing nothing more than walking back to university after their lunch break is all the more devastating.
“We all have the right to expect to be safe on a footpath especially in the busy city precinct.
“The events of the 28th March 2013 are as vivid and painful now as they were then, for us, our family and Alexander and Bridget’s friends.
“We await the outcome of the various investigations and the upcoming Coroner’s Inquest.
“Please understand we won’t be making any further comment at this time.
“Thank you for your understanding.”
The honours for the siblings include two scholarships — set up by their former school, Montmorency Secondary College — to be awarded annually to college graduates accepted into the University of Melbourne.
College principal Allan Richardson said the school community had been “deeply affected” by the tragedy: “In many different ways, we will continue to remember and honour these two amazing young people and former students.”
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ONE YEAR ON a newly laid plaque is the only reminder of the tragedy.
Behind a steel wall, Grocon’s newest tower is coming to life.
On the street, scores of University of Melbourne students make their way past the spot where so many lives were changed forever.
That three bright lives were lost here seems incredible.
The plaque, flanked on either side by a row of bushes and trees, remembers the young lives that were lost and the care and compassion shown by those who tried desperately to help them a year ago today.
It is a different scene to the chaos which confronted rescuers a year ago today when deadly rubble littered the city footpath after a brick wall at the Swanston St site collapsed.
A wooden hoarding and hundreds of bricks came down onto the footpath, taking the lives of three people who just happened to be in the wrong place when a 100km/h gust of wind hit about 3pm on March 28.
Killed were popular Montmorency siblings Alexander and Bridget Jones, along with French researcher Dr Marie-Faith Fiawoo, 33.
The tragedy caused an outpouring of grief. In Melbourne, a mother and father lost their only two children. In France, loving parents discovered their daughter had been killed on the other side of the world. They were all completely helpless.
CFMEU secretary John Setka, one of the first people on the scene, recalled last week of thinking there had been an explosion.
“It was chaos, a scene of utter devastation,” Mr Setka said.
“CFMEU staff were already there trying to keep the young woman — we later learned was Bridget — alive. We were lifting the hoarding to free Bridget, when we found her brother Alexander.
“We could hear the hoarding cracking, so all we could do was just hold it in place, terrified that it would fall to pieces on Bridget. We held it while Karen, our first-aider, crawled underneath to reach Alexander.
“Then someone called out — there’s another person over here. They had found Marie (Marie-Faith Fiawoo). After the rescue teams arrived, we got out of the way and I watched with my heart in my mouth praying that they didn’t find anyone else.
“I was in shock, we all were. On Easter Sunday when news came that Bridget didn’t make it, I was at my parents’ house and I was devastated.
“Some of our staff had counselling and many of us will carry this to the grave. If I’m out walking with my children I veer away from big brick walls and every time I look out my window I think of those poor kids who had their whole lives ahead of them.
“Twelve months on, I feel deeply for the families who are still waiting for answers, answers we all need to avoid this ever happening again.”
A wooden hoarding dynabolted to the brick wall — and erected without a Melbourne City Council permit — was initially blamed for the collapse of the heritage-listed wall. Engineers claimed it acted like a sail when the wind struck. Investigations then turned to the brickwork and foundations of the wall.
A two-week inquest is expected to run from June 23, with the full brief of evidence to be provided by the end of April.
Alexander was hailed a hero after he died shielding his sister from the wall collapse.
Bridget lay in a coma for three days before she passed away in the Royal Melbourne Hospital.
“We were so very proud of both of our children,’’ parents Ian and Sue said in a statement at the time.
“They were always kind-hearted and respectful. They had a wide network of friends and yet were both very close to each other.’’
The Jones’ siblings were both University of Melbourne arts students and keen Carlton fans. They had been on their way to meet their father for the Blues’ first game of the season when the city wall collapsed.
Bridget, 18, was described at her funeral as the “real Bridget Jones” — a gorgeous and smart young woman who had a host of admirers.
Alexander, 19, known to friends as Zander, was a deep thinker and natural leader who always put his sister first. That was never more obvious than on the day he died.
The pair were highly-respected former students of Montmorency Secondary College, which has been devastated by the loss.
The school has honoured their memories with two scholarships in their names.
Ian and Sue Jones helped set the criteria for the annual scholarships, and put “community contribution” at the top.
“We always said to the kids, we didn’t want them to be the smartest kid in the grade,” Mrs Jones told the Herald Sun last month.
“We felt it was more important to be caring and community-minded which, from the things we know (Alexander and Bridget) did, that’s what they were.”
The Fiawoo family are in Melbourne for the anniversary and met with staff at Monash University last week.
Speaking exclusively to the Herald Sun after the tragedy, Dr Fiawoo’s mother Teresa said she had no idea why her daughter was in Swanston St, but that she had been carrying her rearview mirror in her bag at the time.
Someone had smashed it and Mrs Fiawoo believes her daughter may have been going to replace it.
Mrs Fiawoo said the tragedy should never have happened and the family wanted to ensure it did not happen again.
“No matter where you are in the world, even when you are next door when it happens, it’s still very hard,’’ Mrs Fiawoo said.
“The mum wants to know that the child didn’t suffer.
“That was my first reaction, ‘I hope she did not suffer’.’’
A well-liked and brilliant young academic who always had a smile and loved looking down the barrel of a microscope, Dr Fiawoo had been living in Australia for 2 1/2 years after accepting a position as a postdoctoral research fellow at Monash University.
A workaholic, Dr Fiawoo loved the outdoors and was considering applying for permanent residency in Australia.
The wall collapse is the subject of separate inquiries by the state coroner and WorkSafe.
Photos obtained by the Herald Sun in the weeks after the collapse show the wall was riddled with defects as far back as December, 2010.
An engineer who has studied the collapse of the wall, but has asked not to be named, said that the collapse was a combination of at least seven different factors all occurring at the same time.
The engineer said the wall was slightly higher than the weight it was designed to carry and that the ground level behind the wall had raised, encouraging the wall to tip outwards if struck by severe wind.
The buildings behind the wall, that were once within metres of the fence and acted as a windbreak, had been demolished leaving that wall completely exposed to the whole site.
The hoarding bolted to the wall added an extra 300mm that created a sail effect, increasing the load beyond the wall’s design.
It appeared a gate was included into the wall, or sections of it had been removed or changed.
The high gust of wind, reported to be more than 102kmh at the nearest accurate weather station, was exceptional.
And finally, the wall itself was not in good condition. Photographs three months before the collapse showed significant cracks at the base of the wall.
Work will stop on the site as a mark of respect on Friday March 28 — the anniversary of the accident.
Grocon spokesman Dan Blyde said this week would be very painful and difficult for the families who lost loved ones and everyone present on that day.
“Our thoughts and deep sympathies are with them. The important questions about why these three young lives were lost are not yet resolved but some answers will no doubt emerge when the Coronial inquest begins later this year,” he said.
Following the wall collapse, the Building Commission, now the Victorian Building Authority, wrote to more than 20,000 registered builders, asking them to assess all structures on sites on which they work.
The Building Commission wrote to all Victorian councils, encouraging them to have programs of inspection in place to ensure all buildings and structures are safe.
The wall around Northcote’s St John the Baptist Greek Orthodox Monastery was pulled down a month after the tragedy, with fears it was at immediate risk of collapse.
But, sadly, for Marie-Faith, Alexander and Bridget, it is all too late.
- With Shelley Hadfield, Stephen McMahon, Stephen Drill and Evonne Barry
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