A 22-year-old construction worker died after an accident at the former home of French bistro Pastis in the Meatpacking District.
The victim has not yet been identified, according to DNAinfo. Aurora Capital Associates and William Gottlieb Real Estate are redeveloping the site into a Restoration Hardware at 19 Ninth Avenue. The man was part of a crew who had dug under the foundation of the building to make a wooden structure that was meant to hold up the building’s facade, the website reported. The 22-year-old got stuck inside the structure, the website reported. As he tried to escape, he was buried up to his neck in dirt. When emergency responders rescued him, the man wasn’t breathing.
“It’s certainly a tragedy and the police and the fire department are investigating what happened,” Marty McLaughlin, an attorney representing the developers, said in a statement.
Last week, a 50-year-old construction worker fell to his death at a Brighton Beach development site. Other recent accidents include the death of a passerby at Rudin Management’s Greenwich Lane in March and the death of a construction worker at Greenland Forest City Parters’ Barclays Center in February. [DNAinfo] — Claire Moses