Two construction workers demolishing the old New York Coliseum miraculously escaped with minor injuries yesterday when a floor caved in, plunging them up to their waists into concrete rubble and twisted steel.
The men were repairing a bulldozer at the site of what is to become an office and entertainment complex, when the floor slab collapsed and they fell about 45 feet into the basement.
“I would consider them extremely lucky,” said police Sgt. Michael Curtin. “If [the machine] had fallen any other way, I believe these guys would be dead.”
Co-workers helped pull one man out, but it took rescuers about 90 minutes to free the other.
“Get me out!” begged the 50-year-old man, whose legs were pinned under concrete chunks and twisted-steel reinforcing bars.
Part of the bulldozer dangled over the edge of the first floor into the basement.
Police crawled under the worker with saws to cut him loose while other rescuers secured the machinery so it wouldn’t fall and crush them all.
The worker was unconscious when he was finally taken to Bellevue Hospital. His co-worker, who is 40, was taken to Roosevelt Hospital.
Both were released hours later. Their names were not immediately released.
One construction worker at the site, Joe Carloni, 27, said there was no warning of the collapse but that the building trembled slightly as the floor gave way.
“It was a loud bang, like rocks coming down,” he said.
page 11 in metro