A FULL scale emergency was launched after fears people may have been trapped under 30 tons of falling masonry which fell from the top of a mill in Farnworth.

People living opposite Century Mill in George Street told how the ground shook as the masonary tumbled more than 100ft on to a side car park.

Ambulances stood by as rescuers picked through rubble and firemen carefully broke up sections of brick wall, which had fallen intact, in case anyone was underneath. Fortunately no one was found trapped.

"I thought a bomb had gone off. It was worse than thunder," said Susan Walsh who lives opposite the mill.

"I looked out of my window and there was all this smoke rising."

The 100ft section of parapet wall had tumbled three storeys from the top of the former Victorian mill at 6pm yesterday after decades of weathering had weakened the cement holding it together.

Experts say the recent warm spell may have caused the mortar to dry out allowing it to contract, sending it tumbling.

Farnworth fire station officer Ian Medcalf said: "People heard an enormous crash. If anyone had been in the wrong place at the wrong time they would certainly have been very severely injured or killed."

A structural engineer from Bolton Council was today inspecting the mill and the mill's owner was sending in workmen to ensure the rest of the wall is not in danger of collapse.