Tragedy struck in New Orleans over the weekend when an under construction 18-story hotel suddenly collapsed, killing at least 2 with 1 still missing and injuring up to 30 others.
On Saturday, October 12 around 9:10am local time, several of the top floors of the Hard Rock Hotel, constructed with a steel frame and concrete, collapsed and fell onto lower floors and ultimately causing a portion of the building to topple onto the adjacent street.
Video of the collapse was caught on camera:
There are still a lot of unknowns in this terrible incident, but we do know that of the 30 injured that were taken to nearby hospitals, 29 have already been released, according to nola.com. The last injured person underwent surgery and is in stable condition.
There were 112 workers on-site at the time of the collapse.
OSHA has already begun their investigation into the cause of the collapse, but based upon past examples, like the FIU pedestrian bridge collapse, we won’t have the verdict of the investigation for at least a couple of months.
Complicating matters is the fact that one of the 270-foot tall tower cranes on-site was noticeably leaning after the collapse, which is making it difficult for search and rescue teams to locate the one missing person. As of Sunday morning, nola.com also reported that another crane was being brought in to help secure the crane in place, adding that streetcar lines had to be taken down throughout the crane’s path to get it on-site.
The areas surrounding the building are still closed off out of an abundance of caution, causing 100 nearby residents to be temporarily displaced.
We’ll follow up with additional information as it’s made available. In the meantime, Live Storm Media shared drone video of the aftermath on YouTube, which you can watch below. It’s currently the only clues that we have into the cause of the collapse.
