Seven injured as concrete pour goes awry, police say

The building under construction near the Yale School of MedicineYale School of Medicine in New Haven, Connecticut, collapsed Friday when a concrete pour went awry, causing at least seven people to be injured, city officials said.

Firefighters and other agencies were called to Lafayette Street just after 12:50 p.m., police said.

Our units responded immediately within minutes and found several persons in varying degrees of injury, from broken bones to three that were partially buried under the rubble, said John Alston Jr.Alston Jr., fire chief. The trapped people had to be lifted out. According to officials, there were 36 people at the work site at the time, and all were accounted for.

As they were pouring concrete, a portion of the second floor collapsed onto the first floor and then into the basement, Mayor Justin Elicker said.

The workers at the site said the concrete had been being poured faster than they could spread it, and it pooled too much in one area and caused the collapse, Alston said.

The property, which is owned by Yale, is being developed into what will be a seven-story residential apartment by RMS Companies, based in Stamford, Connecticut, which bills itself as a builder of upscale, modern apartments and luxury boutique hotels on its website.

The building is currently two stories high, with two parking levels underground. The plan calls for 112 residential units, Elicker said, which would be built by the state's Department of Housing and Urban Development.

There will be a significant investigation as with any construction situation like this, the mayor said.

A person who answered the phone at RMS said the company was not commenting at this time.

Investigators with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration were at the scene. City officials said they plan to issue a stop work order at the site until it is safe.

Lafayette Street is a short distance from Yale New Haven Hospital and the Yale School of MedicineYale School of Medicine, and is home to several medical clinics, about five blocks from the New Haven Green.

Alston said yesterday that city emergency officials were talking about responding to building collapses in recent days, in response to the partial collapse of an apartment building in Davenport, Iowa, on Sunday that left three people missing and feared dead.

In a remark, Alston said, they did some excellent work under some harrowing conditions. I am very proud of what's happened in Iowa recently. We've been talking about collapses in our area so they responded admirably.