A man was crushed to death at the "Hell's Kitchen" construction site on Tuesday afternoon after a concrete slab fell on him in Manhattan.
The construction worker was removing soil from underneath a building when a 4-foot by 8-foot piece of concrete slab from an adjacent 14-story building fell on him, reports DNAinfo New York.
The man was working in a private event space at 326 W. 37th St. with his co-worker, who escaped with minor injuries, at the time of the incident, stated Rick D. Chandler, Emergency Response Training Commissioner at Department of Buildings, at a press conference.
The worker was pronounced dead at the scene and his co-workers described the incident as a deadly accident. "It's horrible because we looked out the window, literally saw his arm, and we know he's dead. He's not moving or nothing," a worker told NY1.
"I heard this guy yell something urgent. It was bone-chilling. I saw a hand under a rock," Lauren Bustos, who works at the 11th floor of the building, told DNAinfo New York.
Meanwhile, the cause for the accident has not been figured out. But the commissioner said that the slab might have dislodged due to "cold-joint", a process in which two pieces of concrete slabs are joined together.
"It's possible that the piece of concrete slab that fell wasn't appropriately attached to the piece of concrete above it," said Chandler.
As per the records of Department of Buldings, New York, the authorities have inspected the building twice this year as the adjacent buildings were affected during the construction process. The investigators had even issued a stop-work order in August as proper building plans were not followed.
Chandler informed the press that forensic engineers have visited the site and his department would investigate building violations. "We need to do further investigation," he said.
