Body Of Worker Recovered After Sunset Park Wall Collapse
SUNSET PARK – The NYPD has confirmed that the body of 47-year-old Luis Almonte was recovered yesterday afternoon at a construction site where a wall collapsed on Wednesday. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
Almonte was buried when a 20-foot brick retaining wall collapsed on him and five other workers at a construction site located at 714 39th Street between 7th & 8th Avenues in Sunset Park.
#NYPD ESU search & rescue #K9 “Archer” searches the debris field for a missing worker involved in a wall collapse in Sunset Park. @FDNY @nycemergencymgt @NYPDNieves pic.twitter.com/DxBll7mCPu
— NYPD Special Ops (@NYPDSpecialops) September 12, 2018
The incident occurred at approximately 1:30pm Wednesday afternoon. According to a NYPD representative, six workers were digging 20 feet into the ground at the construction site when the “wall became compromised” and crashed down on them. The other five workers were safely rescued from the rubble.
Emergency crews worked for hours trying to locate Almonte under the debris.
Wednesday’s rain complicated the search, which included search dogs, cameras, listening devices, and a vacuum truck to help remove some of the rubble, according to ABC 7, forcing Emergency Management officials to suspend the search overnight and reconsider the recovery plan.
Search efforts resumed Thursday morning. The investigation into the cause of the collapse is ongoing.