A driver and three workers were taken to the hospital after construction equipment collapsed onto multiple cars and a construction box in Brickell Monday morning, fire rescue officials said.
Miami Fire Rescue officials said an 85-foot drill rig, also known as a pile rig, collapsed on Southeast 12th Street and Brickell Bay Drive around 8 a.m.
Miami Fire Chief Robert Hevia said the drill rig collapsed onto a construction box and three vehicles, including two that were parked and one that was driving down Brickell Bay Drive.
Hevia said that the driver of a white BMW SUV saw the drill rig falling, stopped her vehicle and put it in reverse. The drill rig then landed on the SUV’s hood, which caused a fire, and the driver was able to escape by going out the back.
Video showed the downed equipment on top of the box and the charred remains of the BMW, as well as the two parked cars.
Two workers, ages 29 and 27, were in the construction box when the drill rig fell on top of it, trapping them.
“It was a very complex scene with a fire that was occurring, our crews were putting out the fire and our technical rescue team working simultaneously to cut through the Conex box, the construction box, and they were able to successfully able to extricate the two victims,” Hevia said.
A third construction worker, the operator, jumped out of the drill rig as it was tipping over.
The 47-year-old drill rig operator, the two other construction workers and the driver of the SUV were then taken to the hospital with minor injuries.
All 18 construction workers on the site were accounted for, Hevia said.
The driver has since been released from the hospital. Her identity was not released.
“I’ve been on the fire department for 28 years, when you see the scene it’s impressive the fact that we had four victims and they were all able to be extricated or self-extricate themselves with minor injuries is a remarkable day for them,” Hevia said.
NBC6 spoke with a resident who saw the drill rig collapse.
“On my way home, I ran an errand at Publix and was turning the corner in order to access my parking garage, as I entered, I heard a tremendous crash,” Christina Larden said. “I dropped everything and went down to the street and saw a car in flames. Flames were shooting up 20, 30 feet in the air.”
As crews worked the incident, Brickell Bay Drive was closed between Southeast 12th Street and 13th Street. The eastbound lanes of Northwest 17th Street at Seventh Avenue were also closed.
The drill rig collapsed at the site of billionaire Ken Griffin’s planned headquarters for Citadel.
Citadel referred NBC6 to Related Companies, which is the developer of the planned headquarters.
Related Companies released the following statement:
“This morning, a drill rig at 1201 Brickell fell over and damaged three cars and a construction shed, resulting in four people requiring medical attention. We and our construction partners are tremendously grateful to Miami emergency services for their quick response and support.
“Our number one priority is the health and safety of our workers and the community. We are working in full cooperation with City and County building departments to secure the site and conduct a full investigation of today’s incident.”
Details on how the drill rig fell were not released. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration will arrive to investigate the incident.
