Rescuer says plans for more high-rises frightening

9:13 pm on 22 February 2012

A mountaineer who helped lower colleagues out of the Forsyth Barr building moments after the deadly earthquake says he won't ever feel safe inside a high-rise building in Christchurch again.

John Haynes was trapped with a group of his co-workers on the sixth floor and had to lower people down four stories of the building when it was damaged.

He told Checkpoint proposals for 17-storey tall buildings in the city, are frightening, and that lowering people even from four stories, was a challenge.