(Hamburg) Four workers died after scaffolding collapsed on Monday at a major construction site in Hamburg, a port city in northern Germany, while another was seriously injured, local authorities said.
The scaffolding “collapsed several floors for a reason that has not yet been clarified,” firefighters said in a statement.
The latest report shows four deaths and one seriously injured.
Five workers, who were working on this scaffolding, were dragged into the void, said regional Minister of Urban Planning Karen Pein in a press briefing on site broadcast by German television.
Firefighters initially announced five deaths and said they feared that several other people would be buried.
The intervention to free the bodies of the victims is “very complicated and can prove dangerous for the rescue forces”, in particular because of the tangled scaffolding elements, according to Mme Pain.
Around 150 firefighters are on the scene and interventions are still underway.
“It cannot be excluded that other people were injured or buried,” they stressed in their press release.
“Tragic accident”
The killed workers were building an eight-story elevator shaft when the scaffolding toppled around 4:10 a.m., several German media reported.
According to the popular newspaper Bild, a freight elevator for building materials was attached to the scaffolding in the elevator shaft. It is possible that it was overloaded, which would have led to the accident.
The authorities have not commented. “The causes are still completely unknown at this stage,” said a Hamburg police spokesperson.
The investigation will still take time, as the police were unable to really access the place where the tragedy took place, he added.
The accident occurred in the Hafencity, a huge redevelopment project of a former part of the port of Hamburg.
According to Picture, the scaffolding collapsed at Westfield Hamburg-Überseequartier, a new commercial, residential and leisure complex which is due to be completed in spring 2024.
The complex is also to include a new cruise ship terminal.
Its owner, the multinational Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield, deplored a “tragic accident”.
The company, specializing in the management, promotion and investment of large shopping centers, provides its “support to the relief forces and works with the authorities,” it said in a press release.
The entire site where some 700 workers were working was evacuated.