Construction Worker Killed, Trapped Under Rubble In Floor Collapse

YPSILANTI (WWJ) - A construction worker has been killed in an accident during a loft renovation in Ypsilanti.

Ypsilanti Fire Captain Dan Cain said the man was working just before 1 p.m. on the Thompson Block — on Cross Street, near River Street — when the ceiling of the first floor fell on top of him, covering him completely in rubble.

"When we arrived his coworkers were in the process of trying to get him out from underneath a large, extremely large and very heavy first floor collapse," Cain told WWJ's Sandra McNeil.

The building was once a Civil War Army baarracks and the floor was very heavy timber, Cain said.

Cain said a Technical Rescue Team took about 20 minutes to dig the man out. He was not conscious at the time.

"Under those circumstances we get them up out of the hole and to the ambulance and to the emergency room as quick as possible," Cain said.

According to a spokeswoman for Huron Valley Ambulance, the man was pronounced dead at St. Joe's Hospital in Ann Arbor.

His name was not immediately released.