Journalists and staff at the Summit of the Americas Secretariat were yesterday forced to evacuate the International Financial Centre following a security alert.

The entire building was cleared after fire alarms were sounded moments after a second successive interruption in electricity supply.

Head of the Cabinet ministerial sub-committee for the summit Mariano Browne told journalists that earthworks nearby ruptured a major power line providing the building with electricity.

Half an hour after hundreds of people were told to leave the building and congregate in the courtyard below, fire tenders arrived on the scene, adjacent to where 34 heads of government and state will meet Friday.

Browne said fire officers were checking the building before an all clear could be given.