Global Courant 2023-04-19 03:51:09
No foul play is suspected in the US structure collapse, which occurred near Pace University in lower Manhattan.
A four-story parking garage collapsed in New York City on Tuesday, killing at least one worker and injuring five others who were inside the building, authorities said.
Emergency services deployed robotic equipment after firefighters pulled out of the fallen structure due to unstable conditions. Those robots continued to monitor the site for any further casualties, but authorities said they believed anyone in the building had been accounted for.
The collapsed parking garage was often used by students and teachers at Pace University in the US (Andrew Shulman, Twitter via @MobileHealthInc/Reuters)
No foul play was suspected. “We have no reason to believe it was anything other than structural collapse,” Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell told reporters.
Video footage of the scene, quoted by CBS and ABC TV news outlets, showed a rescue operation in progress and several cars piled on top of each other amid crumpled concrete slabs.
One person was pronounced dead at the scene, four others were taken to area hospitals with injuries and a sixth person who was injured refused medical treatment, said John Esposito, the chief of fire for the New York City Fire Department.
He described all six as workers sitting in the parking garage when it collapsed.
“This was an extremely dangerous situation for our firefighters,” he said in a late afternoon press conference.
Pace University, a nearby academic institution in Lower Manhattan where students, faculty and staff use the parking garage, was evacuated as a precaution, authorities said.
“This building is completely unstable,” New York City Mayor Eric Adams told reporters.
Witnesses said the collapse was swift and without warning.
“It all happened so fast,” said Thai Nguyen, 35, who lives in Chinatown and manages the nearby Kollective Klub. “Our shop is two buildings away from the parking garage and we also have a hotel next to us. People rushed in and asked if they could take refuge in our store.”
“It felt like an earthquake,” Liam Gaeta, a student at Pace University, told ABC News. He said he heard “a big noise and a big rumble, and then we were all evacuated”.
Firefighters work at the site of a collapsed parking garage in New York City (Brendan McDermid/Reuters) (TagsToTranslate)News
