1 killed, 2 missing in collapse of hotel under construction
NEW ORLEANS — A cascade of metal and debris rained onto a New Orleans street on Saturday as portions of a hotel under construction collapsed, killing one person and setting off a precarious rescue effort as two others remained unaccounted for and were believed to be inside the dangerously unstable building, the authorities said.
The collapse, which was reported at around 9 a.m., prompted the authorities to evacuate buildings surrounding the hotel and cordon off an area, near the French Quarter, that is often packed with tourists. Officials warned on Saturday that the building was still “very unstable,” and could collapse further. A 270-foot crane at the site was also at risk of falling.
Investigators examined the building and talked to workers who had been inside before sending in rescuers to try to find the missing. Rescue workers entered several hours after the collapse, the authorities said, starting their search for one of the missing people who was believed to be in a part of the building that was more stable. But the other was likely in a spot far more dangerous to enter.
“Remember, we have first responders going into a very dangerous building right now, trying to do their job,” Collin Arnold, the city’s director of homeland security and emergency preparedness, told reporters.
The collapse took place in portions of the upper floors of a future Hard Rock Hotel on Canal Street, which has been under construction for at least a year.
Witnesses said that debris came crashing onto the street. Dramatic video shot from inside a streetcar as the collapse occurred showed vehicles speeding away from the scene.
“We saw, all of a sudden, just this thick cloud of white smoke and metal falling,” said Sarah Fischer, an employee at Fischer’s Jewelry on Canal Street who saw the collapse. “You couldn’t see in front of you and it lasted 30 seconds, maybe a minute.”
Nineteen people were assessed for injuries at the scene, 18 of whom were transported to area hospitals, the New Orleans fire chief, Timothy McConnell, said. All were in stable condition.
Officials also said that an unspecified number of others — in the “double digits,” emergency officials told reporters — had gone to hospitals on their own.
The person killed in the collapse was still in the building hours later, Jonathan Fourcade, a spokesman for New Orleans Emergency Medical Services, said. The identity of that person, who fire officials said was a worker on the site, had not been released.
Lousiana Gov. John Bel Edwards, who had a day of re-election campaign events scheduled as polls were opened for a statewide primary race, rerouted to the site of the collapse on Saturday. “I’m just asking for everybody to lift up in prayer those who are at the hospital” and people who were “unaccounted for,” he said at a news conference.
Hard Rock International said in a statement that the hotel was being built as part of a licensing agreement and that it had “no involvement” in its construction. “We want to extend our deepest sympathies to victims of this tragic accident and to their loved ones and friends,” the statement said.