A construction worker is dead and another is seriously hurt following a partial building collapse in Midtown Manhattan.
It happened around 10:30 a.m. on West 38th Street near Fifth Avenue.
Fire officials say 19 construction workers were in a building being demolished when there was a V-shaped collapse. Officials say 17 escaped on their own, but two became trapped.
One of the workers was pronounced dead at the scene.
The other was trapped in the rubble for several hours, but emergency responders were able to treat him while firefighters worked to free him.
"It was a very long and prolonged operation," said Captain Dominic Bertucci of the FDNY. "It was very technical. We had minimal lifting points to try to lift the debris off the member. We had to bring in a lot of specialized tools, and what we needed to worry about is, if we lifted on one point, we didn't want the debris to shift on another point where it was located on the victim."
Investigators are now looking into the cause.
Officials say the contractor was new.
A company engineer visited Thursday and said no further demolition could be done without shoring up the building.
"We don't know if they were shoring today or if they were doing demolition today," said Rick Chandler, commissioner of the Department of Buildings.
There had been a violation at the site in August for excesive debris.
The demolition company declined to comment.
The building was being converted into what its developer calls a luxury botique hotel, 27 stories high. The site was reportedly bought in 2012 for $12 million.
The site and the address next door are to become a Starwood Aloft hotel, one of many new high-rise hotels rising on the block.
Starwood Hotels and Resorts said its thoughts are with the family of the killed worker, directing calls to developer Fortuna Realty Group, which declined comment. Fortuna took down its website after the incident.