A Christmas concert in a Walloon town church at the weekend was thrown into chaos after the festivities were unexpectedly disrupted by a young attendant who came crashing through the roof.
An intermission during an otherwise tranquil holiday concert in a church in Wavre, in the Walloon Brabant, was disrupted after a 12-year-old boy broke through the roof.
The boy managed to hold on to an edge after the ceiling collapsed, and he was left dangling at a height of around 6 metres above some 250 churchgoers, HLN reports.
The boy, who was unharmed in the incident, reportedly wanted to explore the church's bell tower together with his sister, and the pair climbed up the church, passing through an old wooden door.
"My brother was walking in front of me when suddenly the floor collapsed and he sank into the hole up to his chest," the boy's sister told La Dernière Heure. "I tried pulling him up but I couldn't," she added.
After the initial moments of confusion at seeing the 12-year-old boy's legs dangling above them, several churchgoers scrambled to try to bring the boy safely back to the ground.
Initial attempts to reach him with a ladder were unsuccessful because the ladder was not high enough, and while two men attempted to climb up the bell tower to rescue the boy, other attendants created a makeshift safety net out of their own jackets.
"It was really moving, everyone was trying to help. There was an amazing wave of solidarity" the boy's mother said, adding that she tried to climb up the tower herself but did not know how to move forward safely.
The two attendants who climbed up the tower managed to reach the boy and rescue him after he had spent around 20 minutes dangling from the ceiling.
The fire department arrived shortly after the rescue, and the 12-year-old boy was impressed by the incident but had not been harmed, according to HLN.
Following the rescue, churchgoers put the commotion behind them, and the Christmas concert resumed.
Gabriela Galindo
The Brussels Time
