Building topples near Yale University in New Haven; 7 injured
The building was under construction and collapsed due to a mishap that occurred during the construction
June 03, 2023
Several people were left injured in a partial building collapse near Yale University in New Haven on Friday.
According to NBC, the local authorities said that the building was under construction when a concrete pour went wrong, causing the toppling that injured at least seven people with two of them critical.
City firefighters and other authorities were called to Lafayette Street shortly after 12:30pm.
“Our units responded immediately within minutes and found several persons in varying degrees of injury, from broken bones to three that were partially buried under the rubble,” Fire Chief John Alston Jr said during a news conference.
“Those who were trapped had to be lifted out," he added.
There were 36 people at the work site at the time, and all were accounted for, officials said.
“They were doing a concrete pour on this building, and as they were pouring concrete, a portion of the second floor collapsed onto the first floor and then into the basement,” Mayor Justin Elicker explained.
First responders were informed by workers at the scene that the concrete was poured too quickly for them to spread it, which led to too much of it pooling in one spot and causing the collapse, according to Alston.
According to Elicker, RMS Companies is developing the Yale-owned seven-story residential building with 112 residential units and two underground parking levels.
“There will be a significant investigation, as with any construction situation like this,” the mayor said.
While the person who answered the phone at RMS refused to comment at the time, city officials said they plan to issue a stop work order until it is safe.
Lafayette Street is in close proximity to Yale New Haven Hospital and Yale School of Medicine, home to numerous medical students.
The building collapse follows another recent partial building collapse that occurred in Davenport, Iowa, on Sunday, which left three people missing.
“They did some excellent work under some harrowing conditions,” Alston said about New Haven's first responders.
“I’m very proud of that considering what happened in Iowa recently. We’ve been talking about collapses in our area, so they responded admirably.”
