In October, an 18-story under construction Hard Rock Hotel in New Orleans, Louisiana suddenly collapsed, killing 3 of the construction workers on site. A few days later, two unstable tower cranes were imploded for safety reasons. Next, the city plans to have what’s left of the building completely demolished, although there are still 2 of the 3 bodies of victims inside.
According to 4WWL, New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell has ordered the building to be fully demolished after engineers confirmed the building could not be salvaged. WDSU News reports that Cantrell received blessings to perform the demolish from the families of the two men trapped inside.
After the building comes down, extra care will be taken to recover the 2 bodies. Neither a timetable or method for the demolition has been decided, but implosion has not been ruled out.
NOLA.com reports that the city of New Orleans has already lost over 6 million dollars due to the collapse, an amount that they will try to recoup from the group responsible for the collapse, which is still under investigation.
Over $3.5 million are operation costs, including $1.2 million for street repairs and $850,000 from other infrastructure damage. Another $2.4 million has been spent on personnel costs, including $1.8 million for first responder and other public safety wages.
A video of the collapse was caught on video:
Last summer, Hilti announced that they had developed their first exoskeleton designed for construction tradespeople in a partnership with Ottobuck, a prosthetics, orthotics, and exoskeleton provider. Earlier this month, Hilti officially released the exoskeleton, announced more details, and published its retail price on their website.