Crews yesterday resumed searching for a person still missing in the rubble of a New Orleans construction site after a deadly building collapse on Saturday.
News report say six to eight floors of the under-construction Hard Rock Hotel collapsed, killing two people and injuring at least 18 others. Authorities have had difficulty determining an accurate injury count because some of the 112 workers at the jobsite made their own way to local hospitals some time after the incident for treatment. Seventeen of the eighteen people were transported to New Orleans-area hospitals by emergency medical services personnel have been released.
Witnesses said one side of the building fell after multiple upper floors of it collapsed.
Fire Superintendent Timothy McConnell said the collapsed structure was “unstable” and “very dangerous.” Nearby buildings have been evacuated. Mayor LaToya Cantrell issued a statement warning residents to avoid the area and heed street closures and traffic.
The Hard Rock Hotel was originally scheduled to open next spring as an 18-story building.
