Firefighters Recover Bodies in Houston High-Rise Stairwell Collapse

Construction collapse killed three workers

 

A Houston firefighter works at the site of a deadly construction collapse Wednesday, Oct. 7 2020, at the Marathon Oil building in Houston. The building’s 15-story interior precast stairwell failed Monday, collapsing on itself and crushing the three workers and injuring another (Jon Shapley/Houston Chronicle via AP)

 

HOUSTON (AP) — The bodies of three workers who were killed when a stairwell collapsed inside a high-rise building under construction were recovered Wednesday, the Houston Fire Department said.

Firefighters spent several hours cutting through and removing material from a three-story high pile of debris to get to the bodies, said Houston Fire Department Assistant Chief Michael Mire.

The stairwell was undergoing construction when it collapsed somewhere around the 13th or 14th floor on Monday afternoon. The debris pile collapsed all the way down to the ground floor, injuring another worker.

Firefighters and engineers spent Tuesday assessing the building’s structural integrity before determining that it was safe for rescuers to go in and remove the victims, Mire said.

FireRescue Magazine:
ISOs & Technical Rescue Incidents
LCES during Building Collapse Response
The Chief’s Role in Technical Rescue Safety

The cause of the stairwell collapse is still being investigated. Authorities have not released the identities of the dead workers.

The 15-story office building, situated near Interstate 10 on the city’s westside, is set to be the new headquarters of Houston-based Marathon Oil. Employees were expecting to move into the building in the second half of 2021.

All contents © copyright 2020 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

TOPICS

Construction collapse killed three workers     HOUSTON (AP) — The bodies of three workers who were killed when a stairwell collapsed inside a high-rise building under construction were recovered Wednesday, the Houston Fire Department said. Firefighters spent several hours cutting through and removing material from a three-story high pile of debris to get to […]

Get The RigSpot Newsletter

Related Articles

London Fire Brigade Tackles Seventh Floor Apartment Fire

London Fire Brigade Tackles Seventh Floor Apartment Fire

  Eighty London Fire Brigade firefighters and 12 apparatus tackled an apartment fire on Barking Road in Canning Town Friday morning. Three apartments in the residential block were damaged by the residential fire, which started on the seventh  floor at about 9...

Chicago High-Rise Fire Kills One, Injures Eight

Chicago High-Rise Fire Kills One, Injures Eight

  Deanese Williams-Harris, Adriana Pérez - Chicago Tribune One person is dead and several victims were injured Wednesday in an extra-alarm fire at a high-rise building in the Kenwood neighborhood that burned through several floors of the building and sent debris...