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Version 1 Version 2
2 Construction Workers Dead at J.F.K. After Being Buried in Rubble 2 Construction Workers Dead at J.F.K. After Being Buried Under Rubble
(about 3 hours later)
Two workers were killed at Kennedy International Airport on Monday when they were buried under construction rubble inside a trench, officials said. Two workers were killed at Kennedy International Airport on Monday when they were buried under construction rubble inside a trench while moving utility lines as part of a broader overhaul at the airport, officials said.
The police received a report that the two workers were trapped under the debris shortly after 11 a.m., according to officials with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates the airport. The police received a report that the workers were trapped under the debris shortly after 11 a.m., according to officials with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates the airport.
Emergency services workers from the Fire Department joined the Port Authority police in responding to the scene and in removing the workers from the trench, officials said. Both construction workers were declared dead at the scene, officials said.Emergency services workers from the Fire Department joined the Port Authority police in responding to the scene and in removing the workers from the trench, officials said. Both construction workers were declared dead at the scene, officials said.
The workers were not publicly identified, and few other details were immediately available about what they were doing when they became buried. The workers were identified by the Port Authority as Francisco Reyes, 41, and Fernando Lagunas Pereira, 28. No additional details about them were provided.
The Port Authority said in a statement that it had halted all construction at the airport, was conducting an investigation and would be cooperating in any inquiries undertaken by other agencies. At the time the men were trapped, they were moving the utility lines near a power plant at the airport, a Port Authority spokeswoman said. The task was connected to an $18 billion improvement project at J.F.K. that includes the expansion of two existing terminals and the construction of two new ones.
As a result of the deadly episode, the spokeswoman said, the Port Authority temporarily halted all construction at the airport to conduct safety reviews. She said the authority had opened an investigation and would cooperate in any inquiries by other agencies.
Federal workplace safety and health officials were on their way to the scene Monday afternoon, a U.S. Labor Department spokeswoman said.
Trench-related deaths have become a particularly troublesome type of construction hazard lately.
In a news release that cited a “troubling rise” in such fatalities, the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration said 22 people had died doing trenching and excavation work in the first six months of 2022, compared with 15 in all of 2021. By year’s end, the number had risen to 35, according to the trade publication Equipment World.
The deaths at J.F.K. occurred on the same day that New York City’s Buildings Department, which does not have regulatory oversight of J.F.K. or La Guardia Airport, issued its construction safety report for 2022.
With construction increasing last year as the pandemic receded, the report showed, there was an accompanying uptick in construction-related deaths, to 11 from 9 in 2021. There were 554 construction-related injuries, well below the 759 in 2018 that, according to the department, remains the high-water mark for the city.