Three workers were injured, one of whom was trapped for several hours, after a walkway collapsed inside the former Boston Edison power plant in South Boston on Wednesday afternoon, authorities said.
All three were taken to Boston-area hospitals for treatment. The worker who was rescued suffered life-threatening injuries, authorities said at a news conference in the early afternoon.
Mayor Michelle Wu said “a very dangerous rescue operation” was carried out at the iconic building in South Boston. She praised the response of the police, fire and emergency medical teams who arrived at the scene shortly before 2 p.m.
“I am very grateful to our first responders today,” Wu said, speaking to reporters at the scene.
Boston Police Officer Andre Watson, a department spokesman, said officers were called around 1:43 p.m. to 776 Summer St. for a report of a partial building collapse with “several people” trapped.
A developer has plans to transform the site into 1.7 million square feet of office, residential and retail space, along with a hotel and nearly 6 acres of open space, much of it along the water.
Boston police, firefighters and EMS officers remained on the scene later Wednesday.
The decommissioned former Edison power plant covers 15 acres at 776 Summer St. in South Boston. Hilco Redevelopment Partners and Redgate Real Estate purchased the site in 2016 and early last year received approval to build a 1.7 million square foot project there, which includes housing, office and research and development space, hotels , shops and areas of public use.
Demolition at the site was scheduled to begin in December 2021 and take 20 months to complete.
“During the deconstruction at 776 Summer Street, the safety of the neighborhood and workers on the site is paramount,” a statement about the project. website it reads “Work will proceed in phases, allowing debris to be removed from the site as work is completed in each area.”
In a statement, Suffolk said: “Our thoughts are with the people who were injured, along with their families. We are currently on site working closely with [the Occupational Safety and Health Administration]our subcontractor and local authorities to determine the cause of this incident and report on site safety.”
A Hilco spokesperson said: “The safety of workers on site and in the surrounding areas is our highest priority. We are grateful for the quick response from Boston’s emergency services.”
Members of the Boston Police Crime Scene Response unit were among the first responders on the scene Wednesday.
In downtown Boston, demolition worker Peter Monsini died in March after falling nine stories at the Government Center Garage demolition site. The demolition of the garage was part of the multi-million dollar Bulfinch Crossing mixed-use project outside of the Boston Government Center.
Material from previous Globe stories was used in this report. Danny McDonald and Jessica Rinaldi of the Globe Staff and Globe correspondent Matt Yan contributed to this report. This is a breaking news story that will be updated as more information becomes available.
Travis Andersen can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @TAGlobe. Catherine Carlock can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @cathcarlock. Mike Damiano can be reached at [email protected].
Reference-www.bostonglobe.com