Small Olympic Village fire forces Australia evacuation

RIO DE JANEIRO: Australian athletes briefly had to evacuate their apartments Friday after a small fire in the troubled Rio Olympics Village.

The Australian delegation, preparing to compete in the Games that start August 5 in Rio de Janeiro, went into the street until given the all clear. No one was hurt and there was no serious damage.



"There has been a small fire in the basement of the team building in the Olympic Village. All athletes and staff were evacuated and are fine," the team said in a Tweet.

All athletes were safely evacuated and are now back in the building pic.twitter.com/d5P8APqgZK

— AUS Olympic Team (@AUSOlympicTeam) July 29, 2016

Team spokesperson Mike Tancred told AFP "there was a lot of smoke and we had to evacuate. The fire fighters came, it was controlled and we returned."

"There was no big drama," he said.

The fire brigade were quickly on the scene and the AOC's emergency management plan was put in place pic.twitter.com/NY0a0swduc

— AUS Olympic Team (@AUSOlympicTeam) July 29, 2016

Tancred did not know the cause of the fire. The Australian team initially refused to move into its Village accommodations last weekend, citing shoddy conditions, including blocked toilets and dangerous wiring.

Workers have been fixing the defects all week and the Australian team chief, Kitty Chiller, has said the site is now in good shape.