CRASH CLEANUP
Cleanup at a local plasma donation center on the North Side continued Tuesday, and officials say the facility is likely to reopen in several weeks after a speeding vehicle crashed into the building over the weekend, killing two employees and another person.
The Biomat building on Western Avenue in Manchester has been closed since Saturday, after a red Hyundai Sante Fe slammed into the building just before noon.
Workers with the Panhandle Cleaning and Restoration company on Tuesday said extraction and water teams have been working since Saturday evening to clean up the site. Panhandle provides residential and commercial restoration services in West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Ohio.
On Sunday, workers began setting up more equipment to assist in the work — red company vans and a large, red dumpster sat in the facility’s parking lot Tuesday.
Piles of debris, including drywall, plastic and other items lay in front of the building, with black garbage bags stacked as well.
Vlasta Hakes, a spokeswoman for Grifols Plasma, which manages Biomat USA, offered little insight into the status of repairs at the facility on Tuesday, but said the location should reopen in “several weeks.”
“The site experienced extensive damage,” Ms. Hakes said.
The two employees killed in Saturday’s crash were Parveena Begum Abdul, 55, of Clairton, and Laura Elaine Meneski, 35, of Pittsburgh, according to the Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s office.
A third person also killed was identified late Sunday as Ronald K. Morgan, 50, McKeesport. He was inside the SUV, police said, but it remains unclear if Mr. Morgan was the driver.