NORTHWEST MIAMI-DADE, FLA. (WSVN) - Rescue crews took three construction workers to the hospital after, officials said, two scissor lifts fell over at a Northwest Miami-Dade construction site, critically injuring them.
7SkyForce HD was over the scene, near 1200 NW 57th Ave., where fire rescue officials were seen treating the workers, seen lying on stretchers.
The workers were on the fourth floor when the heavy equipment toppled on top of the building, Thursday, at around 10 a.m. Officials said all three victims sustained serious trauma.
“When our units arrived, we had three patients that were on the fourth-floor level of the construction site,” said Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Capt. Roman Bas. “All three patients were in critical condition.”
A fellow construction worker at the site immediately felt something had gone terribly wrong. “I was in the other crane, and I felt the crane shake,” he said. “When the crane shook, I felt something happen to my crane, but it was another crane that tipped over a couple of scissor lifts.”
A man working nearby, who declined to speak on camera, said he witnessed the crash. He said a crane hoisting a large concrete wall bumped into the lifts and knocked them over. He added that he heard the men on those lifts screaming.
Bas said that safely removing the workers proved challenging. “The biggest challenges that we faced is that it is a construction site,” he said, “so we didn’t have an elevator, nor did we have a proper stairwell that we were able to bring those workers down from the fourth floor.”
Crews had to use a platform truck to carry out the rescue, working for an hour to bring the men down to waiting emergency vehicles. “We chose to bring in our 100-foot platform truck and put the patients in a basket, stabilize them, put them on our hydraulic aerial platform and bring them down to the ground,” said Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Chief George Mira.
Paramedics transported two of the workers to Jackson Memorial Hospital and the third victim to Kendall Regional Medical Center.
The incident remains under investigation. “We brought on the investigation with the local law enforcement and OSHA [Occupational Safety and Health Administration],” said Bas.
The construction company working on the site is Brasfield & Gorrie. They have not replied to 7News’ calls for a statement.
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