Worker dead after part of Boston parking garage collapses

A construction worker is dead after a portion of a parking garage collapsed in the Haymarket area of Boston on Saturday, according to city officials.Boston Fire Commissioner Jack Dempsey said his department received a call at about 5:40 p.m. reporting a building collapse at 1 Congress St.NewsCenter 5’s Emily Maher, who was in the North End reporting on a different story, said she saw multiple floors of the parking garage, which was being demolished, come crashing down between 5:35 p.m. and 5:40 p.m. According to Dempsey, the victim was doing demolition work inside the parking garage in a construction vehicle — which Dempsey described as a Bobcat/jackhammer — when the floor buckled underneath the vehicle.Dempsey said that according to witnesses, the vehicle was approaching the edge of the building when the floor collapsed.After the floor buckled, the construction vehicle — with the worker still inside — went over the side of the parking garage and fell a significant height, Dempsey said.Firefighters found the worker at the bottom of a pile of rubble and Boston Emergency Medical Services personnel pronounced him dead at the scene.Suffolk County District Attorney Kevin Hayden said the worker who died as a result of the collapse was a young man, but did not identify him.“This is a horrible tragedy and my heart goes out to the family and loved ones of the worker,” said Boston Mayor Michelle Wu.Dempsey said crews are working to recover the victim’s body, but they will not have firefighters go near the scene to recover the body until the Boston Inspectional Services department deems it safe to do so.Boston EMS officials said a second person, a passerby who did not appear to be physically injured, was transported to an area hospital. Their condition is not known at this time. One man who witnessed the collapse told Maher that he could hear the sound of jackhammers just moments before he saw some parts of the parking garage collapse.”The open half just collapsed. It couldn’t be on purpose. It had to be an accident,” that witness said.A woman who heard the collapse said it sounded like continuous thunder.A photo shared with NewsCenter 5 via Twitter shows what appears to be a piece of heavy construction equipment trapped under concrete rubble. A multitude of Boston police officers, firefighters and EMS personnel, along with Massachusetts State Police troopers, responded to the scene.Boston police warned that vehicular and pedestrian traffic will be impacted in the surrounding areas.The MBTA said one shuttle bus route is serving both the Orange and Green lines this weekend, and that the shuttle bus stop at Haymarket is being bypassed due to police activity in the area. MBTA customers are advised to stop at Government Center as an alternate.

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