Dec 27, 2006 12:28 am US/Eastern
1 Dead, 2 Injured In Harlem Building Collapse
Man Killed Had Premonition About Dangers At The Job
NEW YORK (CBS/AP) ―
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At least one person was killed, and two others injured after a building partially collapsed in Harlem.
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Firefighters worked to remove trapped construction workers inside the building.
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Dozens of rescue units were called to the scene to rescue trapped victims.
CBS
A partial building collapse in Harlem early Tuesday afternoon left one person dead and two others injured in what CBS 2 has learned was a four-man demolition gone horribly wrong.
Three floors of the century-old five-story tenement building at 280 West 113th St. collapsed inside the structure shortly after noon, trapping two of the demolition workers.
"You could see the dust come out of the building when it fell -- (it sounded) like a 'boom,'" said Tony James, who lives near the building.
James said he saw two of the workers get out of the wreck on their own, and that one of them was injured. He heard a third worker who was trapped screaming inside and saw firefighters pull him out. The fourth worker, 33-year-old Richard Joseph of Brooklyn, however, never made it out alive.
"With the fatality, the debris fell on top of the person and was trapped and it took us a while to get that victim out," Deputy Assistant Fire Chief Joseph Pfiefer said.
Relatives of Joseph, who had a toddler son, said he was a jovial person but he had predicted at a Christmas Eve party that he would die on the job.
"He said, you know, 'I'm not going back to this job because I just feel like I'm gonna die if I go back there,"' recalled cousin Octavio Felix, who didn't say why Joseph felt he would die.
Dozens of firefighters arrived at the scene to help rescue the injured workers and investigate the collapse. The two injured victims were taken to St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital, but the extents of their injuries have not yet been released.
For now, fire officials are calling the incident a "major structural collapse;" but the investigation will shift to the Department of Buildings which has a file on the building with numerous violations including two active investigations for permit problems. One violation was issued just two weeks ago.
All of the apartment buildings around the one which collapsed have been recently renovated as part of the renaissance in Harlem. That renovation usually starts with the roof, and that appears to be where this collapse started, continuing down all five floors to the basement below.
An architect for the project would not talk to CBS 2 about the different violations, but said the building was being renovated with help from the city.
"(We want) to make sure with all this construction that people are complying with rules and procedures, and that shortcuts are not being taken" said Sen. Bill Perkins.
(© 2006 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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