KINGSTON, Jamaica — An elderly woman was injured when the staircase at the Torrington Park Housing Scheme in St Andrew collapsed on Sunday afternoon.

She has since been assisted by the police to the Kingston Public Hospital where she is currently receiving treatment for her injuries.

In the meantime, the Jamaica Fire Brigade is conducting rescue operations to assist persons who are trapped on the higher levels of the four-storey building. So far several individuals including children have been rescued.

Speaking with Observer Online, Police Inspector Horatio Rowe of the Kingston Western Division shared, “Currently we have a situation here at the Torrington building where it has appeared as if the integrity of the staircase has been compromised where you can obviously see that the building or the stairway has collapsed and three levels from the second floor, the third and the fourth, persons are left inside.”

“What is needed is for this way to be cleared and the necessary assistance given to these persons over time to have their life come back to some form of regularity,” he said.

The inspector noted that with the level of damage caused to the building, it will take some time for repairs to be conducted.

“It is obvious that the level of damage caused to this building, it would possibly be taking some amount of time for the building to be repaired. But what we as police have to do is to ensure that we secure the site and allow the necessary department to offer such assistance,” Inspector Rowe added.