Officials say one worker has been killed and four others were hurt when a pedestrian bridge under construction on Wake Tech Community College's northern campus collapsed. Wake County EMS officials say the four men suffered injuries Thursday that were serious enough to send them to a hospital trauma unit.
Jeff Hammerstein with Wake EMS says he thinks the highest point on the bridge was 40 feet above the ground.
The victims were all construction workers who worked for the company Skanska. WRAL is reporting that the men wworked for Raleigh-based Central Concrete, a subcontractor on the project.
Wake County EMS Chief John Olson tells ABC-11 that workers were pouring concrete when the accident happened.
"All of the folks were sort of scattered around where this bridge fell. There was nobody trapped underneath the structure that fell. The biggest challenge we had with this being a construction zone was getting these folks properly assessed and mobilized [and then transported] to the hospital," Olson said.
The Associated Press reports that Wake Tech broke ground in April on new projects under a 2012 borrowing agreement. Two pedestrian bridges were included in those projects.
WRAL reports the 9-1-1 calls began to come in immediately:
"There is one (man) trapped under. They are getting the concrete off of him right now, and I can't tell if he is alive or not, but it does not look good," one caller said. "The bridge collapsed on them," another caller said. "One guy is pinned under the bridge. They are trying to lift the bridge off of him now."
The names of the victims have not been released.
pedestrian #bridge #collapse @waketechcc construction site kills 1, injures 4 @newsobserver http://t.co/SDi5fYi8kT pic.twitter.com/2onnNNEJ5F
— Corey Lowenstein (@clowenst) November 13, 2014
#BREAKING: SKY5 over scene of ped bridge collapse on N Wake Tech campus. Several injuries. #Raleigh #wral pic.twitter.com/xvvFbvFFPG
— Brian Shrader (@wraltraffic) November 13, 2014
OSHA and representatives from Skanska on Wake Tech's north campus to investigate pedestrian bridge collapse pic.twitter.com/Fc9CPWBPyG
— Heather Waliga (@WBIRHeather) November 13, 2014
