High-rise scaffolding laden with heavy, wet concrete yesterday collapsed at the violations-plagued site of Donald Trump’s future SoHo hotel-condo complex, sending one worker plummeting 42 stories to his death and injuring three others.
“I heard a bang and I saw everyone clearing out,” said Andy Williams, who was in his car parked near the Trump SoHo at 246 Spring St. when a deck near the top of the structure collapsed at about 1:55 p.m. “I thought the whole building was coming down.”
Chris Borelli, 38, was on the 42nd floor of the building when the structure gave way. “All I heard was the deck crack, and it all went down. I jumped back . . . All I could think about was saving myself,” he said.
His fellow workers from Brooklyn-based Difama Concrete then began yelling, “Where’s Yuri?” the married Ukranian immigrant worker with several kids who disappeared into the falling concrete.
Yuri, whose last name was not released, fell to the street, where he died instantly
Yesterday’s accident was just the latest in a string of dangerous mishaps at the site.
Contractors at the planned 45-story Trump SoHo were issued violations by the city Buildings Department over a wayward crane that smashed the window of an adjacent building in October and for failure to maintain hand rails on stairs in December.
On Jan. 4, the site again was slapped with violations for failing to provide inspectors with a safety site log and for storing materials too close to the edge of the 39th floor.
The site’s general contractor is construction giant Bovis Lend Lease, which also oversaw demolition at the former Deutsche Bank site near Ground Zero where two firefighters were killed last year amid serious safety issues.
Yesterday’s accident and past violations at the site are “clearly unacceptable, and the construction work will be shut down now until the construction company tells us how work can proceed safely,” said Buildings Commissioner Patricia Lancaster. The general contractor for the building, Bovis Lend Lease, said in a statement, “We are in the process of conducting out own investigation with our concrete subcontractor while working with local authorities to determine the cause of this tragic accident.”
Donald Trump Jr., who is overseeing the project with his real-estate mogul dad, and their partners, the Saphir Organization and the Bayrock Group, referred questions to Bovis. Difama Concrete refused to comment.
Additional reporting by Tom Topousis, Chuck Bennett, John Doyle, Patrick Gallahue and Tom Liddy