Police and emergency medical services were called to the construction site of the Hard Rock Hotel, located on Canal St. in Downtown New Orleans, around 9 am Saturday morning, where they say portions of the hotel had collapsed. The top six to eight floors of the building were affected.
Three people still remain unaccounted for and one person was pronounced dead on the site. Additional information on the person who was killed was not immediately available. However, there are no reports of people being injured on the ground around the construction site.
“You can see people stuck up there,” said Sarah Fischer, an employee at Fischer’s Jewelry on Canal Street who saw the structure collapse. She added that firefighters were trying to rescue people, though it was not immediately clear how many people were in the hotel when the structure collapsed or after it began to fall apart. “They were closer to finishing it up,” Fisher added, saying that the hotel had been under construction for at least a year.
“It’s a very dangerous situation,” Fire Superintendent Timothy McConnell said, adding that the building is “unstable,” and another collapse is possible.
Of the nineteen people assessed at the scene, Eighteen were reportedly taken to nearby hospitals in stable condition. One person refused treatment.
The City of New Orleans is calling for evacuations for those in the area.
In a recent press release, the Hard Rock Hotel was going to be the latest addition to the New Orleans’ hotel and casino scene. Just steps away from the historic French Quarter, the hotel would boast 350-rooms, two ballrooms and a sky bar that offers panoramic city views.