Large boulder falls inches away from woman at London eatery

Diners at a London eatery got the fright of their lives when a piece of boulder fell from the building just inches away from them. The huge chunk of masonry tore apart from the building due to a gust of wind and crashed near the chairs, leaving a big dent in the pavement, Daily Mail reported.

The incident happened at the Ottomenzo Cafe, in Kensington, where a woman ditched the piece of stone by mere millimetres which went crashing into her chair. People present at the scene said that the crash felt "like an earthquake".

The woman who survived the crash was there to meet a friend and after the incident just stood there for an hour. A dog nearby was left covered in dust and the boulder left a crater on the stone slabs below. The restaurant staff told Emma Baxter-Wright to vacate the table fearing more stones might fall down.

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Fire engines rushed to the scene and the firefighters were left stunned to see the massive boulder on the ground and dust all around. They closed off the area to avoid any untoward incident from happening.

Eatery owner says he was shocked

Francesco Cicoria, the 58-year-old owner of the cafe was also shocked to see the piece of masonry on the ground. A gaping hole was left at the place in the building where the boulder was initially attached.

He told Daily Mail that nothing of the sort was expected to happen. "I didn't expect it - there was no sign of it. It just came from above. It was unexpected. A shock," he said.

"Now, you're looking up watching out every time you walk. He said it's very rare it happens. One in a million," he added.

He recalls how he was occupying the same table 20 minutes back and vacated it for the customer. "I was sitting there 20 minutes before it. I was lucky the lady came and she wanted a table so I stood up. But if I hadn't otherwise... It's scary stuff," Cicoria said.

A woman whose dog, Bingo, was covered in dust, told the publication that had Emma's chair been inches to the left, she would have died. "If it had been a foot over she'd have been dead, for sure. You can see the hole in the pavement. It's not ideal," Coco Cottam said.

Another woman who was visiting her aunt who works at the cafe, said that the incident made her fearful of sitting outside. "It was like an earthquake. I was like - every day in London, things like this happen?" Tosia said.