Three students were treated for minor injuries in hospital and 20 more are homeless after the mid-terrace building fell down in a cloud of dust in Brook Hill, Sheffield.
Investigators have yet to explain why the building collapsed – but gas, fire and explosives are all ruled out as a cause.
One student said: “We were all in the kitchen next door. We heard a whoosh and a loud noise and looked out to see what had happened. The building next door was gone.”
One student managed to scramble under a table as walls and ceilings crashed down on him.
Fireman took 40 minutes to dig through the rubble to pull him to safety.
Lawyers are blaming building work in an empty restaurant below the flats for the collapse. No one at the restaurant was available to comment.
Flare and firework protest at university
A mob of around a thousand protesters has broken in to Sussex University, Brighton, and let off flares and fireworks in a row about outsourcing about 10% of the campus workforce.
A hardcore group has occupied one building for almost two months.
The mob clashed with police in riot gear on the campus, while concerns are thousands more students from across the country are on the way to Brighton to join the troubles.
Sussex Occupation, the pressure group heading the demo, and university management have been involved in heated negotiations about the protests.
The management accuses the group of inflaming the issues and ignoring discussions, while the occupiers claim they are victims of censorship as the university refused to let them publish poll results in the campus newspaper.
"Two students have met with the director of residential, sport and trading services to discuss the issue further. If the University wishes to discuss this in further detail they are invited to get in touch," said a student spokesman.
