A horrible accident led to the deaths of two construction workers at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City on the morning of Monday, April 3.
Officials from JFK airport and the Port Authority, which oversees regional transit in New York and New Jersey, confirmed the two deaths on Monday afternoon.
According to the New York City Fire Department, the workers were trapped at a collapsed construction site in the vicinity of the airport’s busy Terminal 7.
The airport issued an announcement that delays should be expected in Terminals 5 and 7 due to “ongoing emergency activity.”
For more than an hour, the two workers were reportedly trapped when the trench-like construction site where they were working collapsed and construction rubble buried them. Airport staff said that the unfortunate event took place at around 11 a.m.
According to the Port Authority, they received a report of the two trapped workers and sent their own police officers to assist New York City firefighters and emergency medical responders. The Fire Department reported that around 60 firefighters were involved in rescuing the workers from the trench and footage shows numerous first responders crowding around the cordoned off area as well as a bulldozer in operation.
After they were extracted from beneath the debris, the workers were immediately transported to a hospital but both had succumbed to their injuries.
There have been no flight disruptions reported but all construction at the airport has been halted due to the incident. The details of the collapse are still under investigation and the Port Authority said that they will be cooperating with “all other investigative agencies.”
