19 MAY: Looters have completely cleaned out an earthquake-damaged, upmarket hotel in the Christchurch CBD.
"They took anything that was valuable - like laptops, cellphones, iPads", Timothy Nicholls, owner of the chic, 38-room Off The Square hotel told media yesterday.
"They’ve systematically gone through the whole hotel", he said.
"I had to go back to guests from around the world and tell them things had been taken.
"In some cases there is practically nothing to return. Everything seems to have disappeared".
The hotel is in an area of the CBD cordoned off after the 22 February earthquake, dubbed the ‘red zone’.
Off The Square is billed as an 'art gallery in itself' and modelled on New York’s Soho/West Village district.
Mr Nicholls gained access to the property only last week.
He said it’s the only hotel which has been targeted in this way.
Police says it’s the first significant burglary in the red zone.
