HARD ROCK SITE COLLAPSES
Workers receive aid after a Hard Rock Hotel, under construction for several months, suddenly collapsed Saturday in New Orleans. At least one person was killed.
NEW ORLEANS — A large section of a Hard Rock Hotel under construction at the edge of New Orleans’ historic French Quarter collapsed Saturday amid blinding dust and flying debris, killing one person, injuring more than 20 and leaving two unaccounted for as rescue workers hastened to enter what was left of the largely unstable building.
Nearby buildings were evacuated and a 270-foot construction crane — one of two still looming over the multistory building — also was dangerously unstable, fire Chief Tim McConnell said.
“There is a very strong possibility of further collapse of this crane right now,” Chief McConnell said.
Chief McConnell said search and rescue teams were entering a section of the building Saturday afternoon in hopes of finding the two missing people alive.
Neither of the missing people had been spotted, but Chief McConnell said authorities believe they know their approximate locations based on talks with other survivors of the collapse. Camera-equipped drones were used to get closer views of the wreckage from the air but did not capture any sign of the missing.
One man who had been unaccounted for turned out to have gone to a hospital, authorities said.
Officials said 18 other people were transported to the hospital from the scene and “several” others reported to hospitals on their own. No life-threatening injuries were reported among the known survivors.
Chief McConnell said one of the missing is believed to be in a relatively stable part of the wrecked building. Another was believed to be in a less stable area.
As search and rescue efforts unfolded, police stood sentry around a group of people on the Canal Street median who were believed to be loved ones of the missing.
One woman nearby said she was trying to find out the status of her brother, a worker at the site. She declined to give her name, wiping tears from her eyes as she walked away.
WWL-TV aired and tweeted a viewer’s dramatic video of the collapse, showing upper floors falling on top of each other before one side of the building crashed to the ground.
Another video on social media showed what looked like a metal structure — part of the building or a piece of construction equipment — tumbling to the ground and people running from the scene as clouds of dust billowed up, obscuring the view like a thick fog.