A rescue effort was ongoing Thursday morning after a Philadelphia parking garage partially collapsed on Wednesday afternoon, killing one person and leaving two others missing, Mayor Cherelle Parker said.
Two other people survived the collapse of the garage, which was under construction, and were treated at a hospital and released, according to Jeffrey W. Thompson, the city’s fire commissioner.
The collapse happened when a roof segment was being added to a stairwell on one side of the building, officials said. The segment fell to the level below, triggering a progressive collapse through all seven floors of the stairwell.
The seven-story garage with ground floor retail space, in the Grays Ferry section of the city, was being built for the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia near the University of Pennsylvania campus.
“It’s going to take time,” Mayor Parker said of rescue efforts. “This is a very, very complex process, and Commissioner Thompson and others are working very hard to determine that the garage structure is stable enough for the first responders and firefighters to actually enter it.”
Mr. Thompson said, “We have to very carefully and methodically deconstruct this building.” He said there was no time frame for that process.
Relevant permits had been issued for the construction, and inspections were up to date, Mayor Parker said.
“The city will investigate this garage collapse thoroughly and efficiently,” she said.
Grady Fields, who lives near the construction site, told The Philadelphia Inquirer that he had heard a loud boom when the collapse happened. “It shook our home,” he said. “I wasn’t sure what was going on.”
Victor Mather, who has been a reporter and editor at The Times for 25 years, covers sports and breaking news.
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