Construction Worker Killed After Retaining Wall Collapses In Brooklyn
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) - There was a dramatic rescue in Brooklyn as more than 100 firefighters rushed to save two construction workers trapped underneath a collapsed retaining wall.
As CBS2's Kevin Rincon reports, in the backyard of 454 42nd Street in Sunset Park, a 9' wall suddenly collapsed Monday afternoon, pinning two construction workers underneath it.
One of the two men did not survive.
Firefighters rushed to try and save the two who were underneath a pile of debris after the wall collapsed. Chopper 2 was on the scene as a stretcher was moved into place. One of the men was loaded into an ambulance and rushed to NYU Langone Hospital-Brooklyn. The FDNY says that man was seriously injured and in critical condition.
The other worker died at the scene.
Tomel Shamsuddim was working with those men. After the collapse, he sat across the street, thinking it could have been him.
"God saved me. God saved me," he said.
Shamsuddim says they came to work on the project when things went wrong.
"I call last night, you guys work with me, work together. They said OK," he said.
He had left moments before the collapse to get lunch.
The FDNY says more than 100 firefighters, EMS and other personnel were called to the scene.
"It was a 9 foot retaining wall. It was a 90 degree collapse onto the workers," said Deputy FDNY Chief James A. Boyle.
The NYPD was also on the scene to assist. The investigation is ongoing.
It's not yet clear what kind of work the men were doing, and what exactly led up to the wall collapse.
The scene will remain closed off so investigators can comb through the debris and piece together what went wrong.
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Kevin Rincon contributed to this report.
