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Hard Rock Hotel Collapse in New Orleans Kills One and Injures at Least 19 Collapse of a Future Hard Rock Hotel Leaves One Dead, and New Orleans Reeling
(about 2 hours later)
Parts of a hotel being built in New Orleans collapsed Saturday morning, killing one and injuring at least 19 others, a city official said. Two people had not been accounted for. NEW ORLEANS — A cascade of metal and debris rained onto a New Orleans street on Saturday as portions of a hotel under construction collapsed, killing one person and setting off a precarious rescue effort as two others remained unaccounted for and were believed to be inside the dangerously unstable building, the authorities said.
The New Orleans Fire Department received reports of a collapsed building around 9:12 a.m. local time, Chief Timothy McConnell said at a news conference on Saturday. The top six to eight floors of the building were affected, he said. The collapse, which was reported at around 9 a.m., prompted the authorities to evacuate buildings surrounding the hotel and cordon off an area, near the French Quarter, that is often packed with tourists. Officials warned on Saturday that the building was still “very unstable,” and could collapse further. A 270-foot crane at the site was also at risk of falling.
Chief McConnell and other officials repeatedly warned people to stay away from the area, noting that the structure and a 270-foot crane remained unstable and still might collapse. Investigators examined the building and talked to workers who had been inside before sending in rescuers to try to find the missing. Rescue workers entered several hours after the collapse, the authorities said, starting their search for one of the missing people who was believed to be in a part of the building that was more stable. But the other was likely in a spot far more dangerous to enter.
Nineteen people were assessed for injuries at the scene, 18 of whom were transported to area hospitals, he said. All were in stable condition. “Remember, we have first responders going into a very dangerous building right now, trying to do their job,” Collin Arnold, the city’s director of homeland security and emergency preparedness, told reporters.
Earlier in the day, three people were unaccounted for, but one was found at a hospital in stable condition, Chief McConnell said. The collapse took place in portions of the upper floors of a future Hard Rock Hotel on Canal Street, which has been under construction for at least a year. The hotel’s plans called for 350 rooms, residential spaces, two ballrooms and 12,000 square feet of event space.
There were no reports of any injuries of people on the ground around the construction site, which was being built as a future Hard Rock Hotel. Witnesses said that debris came crashing onto the street. Dramatic video shot from inside a streetcar as the collapse occurred showed vehicles speeding away from the scene. Someone inside the streetcar could also be heard instructing people to “get to the back.”
The person who was killed remains in the building, Jonathan Fourcade, a spokesman for New Orleans Emergency Medical Services, said on Saturday. Additional information about the person was not immediately available. “We saw, all of a sudden, just this thick cloud of white smoke and metal falling,” said Sarah Fischer, an employee at Fischer’s Jewelry on Canal Street who saw the collapse. “You couldn’t see in front of you and it lasted 30 seconds, maybe a minute.”
He said that search-and-rescue teams were arriving to the scene and would soon begin to “sweep the building to see if they can find any other victims.” David Donze, who was attending a function at a nearby church, said that he rushed over shortly after the collapse and saw a tangle of metal that filled the roadway. He took photographs and videos of the debris and at least one worker who was wincing from what appeared to be a minor injury.
“Obviously, it’s a very serious situation here on Canal Street,” Gov. John Bel Edwards said at the news conference. “I’m just asking for everybody to lift up in prayer those who are at the hospital” and people who were “unaccounted for.” “I got there and workers were running like crazy,” Mr. Donze recounted, adding, “I just can’t get my head around it.”
“This is an active scene,” NOLA Ready, New Orleans’s emergency preparedness campaign, said on Twitter. “Please avoid the area & listen to public safety officials.” Nineteen people were assessed for injuries at the scene, 18 of whom were transported to area hospitals, the New Orleans fire chief, Timothy McConnell, said. All were in stable condition. There were no reports of people injured on the ground around the construction site.
The organization later said on Twitter that the Fire Department was evacuating select buildings in the blocks surrounding the collapse. Earlier, officials said that one other person had been unaccounted for, but that person was found in a hospital and was also in stable condition, the authorities said at a later news conference. Officials also said that an unspecified number of others — in the “double digits,” emergency officials told reporters — had gone to hospitals on their own.
The surrounding area will remain cordoned off for the next couple of days, Mr. Fourcade said, adding, “There is rubble in the street and the building is still unstable.” The person killed in the collapse was still in the building hours later, Jonathan Fourcade, a spokesman for New Orleans Emergency Medical Services, said on Saturday. The identity of that person, who fire officials said was a worker on the site, had not been released.
At least one person complained on Twitter about being evacuated from her Airbnb by the Fire Department. “Straight up not having a good time,” she said. Gov. John Bel Edwards of Louisiana, who had a day of re-election campaign events scheduled as polls were opened for a statewide primary race, rerouted to the site of the collapse on Saturday. “Obviously, it’s a very serious situation here on Canal Street,” Mr. Edwards, a Democrat, said at a news conference. “I’m just asking for everybody to lift up in prayer those who are at the hospital” and people who were “unaccounted for.”
Sarah Fischer, an employee at Fischer’s Jewelry on Canal Street who saw the collapse, said that the area was completely blocked off, and that Fischer’s Jewelry employees were being forced to evacuate over worries that the crane could fall. Hard Rock International said in a statement that the hotel was being built as part of a licensing agreement and that it had “no involvement” in its construction. “We want to extend our deepest sympathies to victims of this tragic accident and to their loved ones and friends,” the statement said.
“We saw, all of a sudden, just this thick cloud of white smoke and metal falling,” she said. “You couldn’t see in front of you and it lasted 30 seconds, maybe a minute.” Later in the day, as crews were preparing to go inside the building, parts of it looked shredded, as strips of metal and other materials dangled. Tourists and residents gathered along the area blocked off by police tape; one group of men posed for a photograph with the building looming behind them.
Ms. Fischer said there was metal all over the street. “You can see people stuck up there,” she said of the building, adding that firefighters were trying to rescue people. The street closings clogged surrounding roadways with traffic and disrupted some of the city’s bus routes. Officials cautioned that the area around the hotel might be closed for some time, at least through the weekend, as the building remained a danger and a perilous search was still underway.
It was not immediately clear how many people were in the structure at the time it collapsed or after it began to fall apart. “This is not a short-term event,” Chief McConnell said on Saturday afternoon, comparing the wreckage to that left by an earthquake and asking for the city’s patience and understanding. “It is a marathon.”
Ms. Fischer said the hotel had been under construction for at least a year. “They were closer to finishing it up.” Rick Rojas reported from New Orleans, and Derrick Bryson Taylor from New York. Mariel Padilla contributed reporting from New York.
Dramatic video shot from inside a streetcar as the collapse occurred shows vehicles speeding away from the scene. Someone inside the streetcar can also be heard instructing people to “get to the back.”
The footage, which was posted on Twitter, also shows passengers reluctantly getting off the streetcar and people on the street rushing about, covering their mouths.
A news release announcing Hard Rock’s coming New Orleans location, near the city’s historic French Quarter, said the hotel would have 350 rooms, residential spaces, two ballrooms and 12,000 square feet of event space.
Hard Rock International said in a statement that it had no involvement in the construction of the project. The owner of the project, Kailas Companies, contracted Citadel Builders to build the hotel, while Hard Rock International is to be the future manager of the property, the statement said.
“We want to extend our deepest sympathies to victims of this tragic accident and to their loved ones and friends,” the company said.
Rick Rojas and Mariel Padilla contributed reporting.