Tragedies downtown & on W. Side
A PAIR OF construction workers plunged to their deaths Thursday at two different problem-plagued Manhattan job sites — sparking renewed calls for more safety oversight.
A third worker was seriously injured in one of the incidents.
In the earlier tragedy, father of five Juan Chonillo, 36, of Corona, Queens, plummeted 29 stories from 161 Maiden Lane near South St. in lower Manhattan at about 9:15 a.m., FDNY officials said. He died at the scene.
“They were freeing the crane from the building. The cable got stuck somehow,” said his cousin Angel Munoz, 46.
“He was trained and certified. I worked on three towers with him. He was always careful.”
Munoz said he rushed to the scene when his brother told him about the accident. He said Chonillo was wearing a harness but it wasn’t hooked up.
“He was a very responsible worker,” he added. “He had been working in construction for more than 10 years.”
A source familiar with the ongoing investigation said workers were raising the concrete framework to begin the process of pouring the 29th floor.
A group of construction workers stood near the scene shaking their heads in disbelief. Medics treated a crying woman.
Chonillo worked for the nonunion SSC High Rise Construction, sources said. The Ecuadoran immigrant came to the U.S. to earn money for his family.
“He was a good man, a good father,” Munoz said. “He came here to support his children."
The building under construction is a 670-foot luxury condo tower known as 1 Seaport.
On Wednesday, city buildings inspectors issued a partial stopwork order due to the unsafe operation of a crane that was still in effect when Thursday’s accident occurred. The inspectors found there was no approved permit for the crane at the site, city records show.
Since January, the site has been hit with nine constructionrelated code violations and fined thousands of dollars, including a $10,000 penalty for using a tower crane without a warning light system. The 57-story tower faced stiff opposition in 2013 and 2014 from neighbors who argued the structure would block views of the river.
In the later incident, a 45-year-old man fell from a bucket lift about 36 feet off the ground at 401 9th Ave. near W. 33rd St. and the Hudson Yards about 2 p.m., officials said. He died at the scene.
A second 45-year-old man, who also tumbled from the lift, suffered head trauma and was taken to Bellevue Hospital in stable condition.
“One of them hit face forward and the other person just fell on his side,” said Christopher Gamboa, 19, who was working at a site across the street. “Once you saw the other guy fall you already knew he was dead, it was straight on, flat on his face.”
In June, another worker plunged five stories to his death at the same site. Roger Vail, 62, was doing a survey on the 16th floor when he stepped through a wooden platform.
Building inspectors shut down the site but rescinded the stop work order by June 21 after a safety plan was submitted to the city.
Thursday’s twin tragedies reignited fierce calls for safety improvements at city construction sites.
“What happened today further reinforces our point that safety is inclusive and accidents and deaths can happen to anyone,” Brian Sampson, president of the Empire State Chapter of Associated Builders & Contractors, said in a statement.
Gary LaBarbera, the President of the Building and Construction Trades Council of Greater New York, agreed.
“Today’s tragic accident underscores the immediate need for comprehensive safety training for all construction workers throughout New York City,” he said. “This is an epidemic that must end now.”
Buildings Department officials said there have been eight construction deaths, including the two on Thursday, so far this year. There were 12 in all of 2016.