Posted on Wednesday, November 4th, 2015 at 8:11 pm
A 20-year-old construction worker was transported to Bellevue Hospital in serious but stable condition after having survived a partial building collapse at 25 W. 38th Street on Friday, October 30. The building was being demolished to make way for a luxurious 27 story, 180 room boutique hotel called Aloft New York Midtown near the Empire State Building in Midtown Manhattan in New York.
Police, firefighters, and emergency medical responders were able to save the construction worker’s life after sorting through rubble and chunks of building materials for almost three hours. The man, who was one of nineteen non-union employees who had been working to demolish the existing eight story tenement, was trapped from the waist down when the lower five stories fell in a V-shaped pattern. A second worker was killed in the collapse by falling debris.
Officials were able to stay in contact with the trapped man throughout most of the rescue process, and medical responders were even able to administer intravenous medicines through an IV drip while rescuers worked.