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Worker killed in Sunnyside elevator shaft fall

Updated 4:35 p.m.

A construction worker is dead after falling from the fifth floor of an elevator shaft in Sunnyside Thursday morning, police said.

The victim, a 45 year-old man, was working at the six-story building located at 45-45 42nd Street around 8:15 a.m. when the incident happened, police said.

The new building is reportedly under construction to become a new school.

A second worker, who was also installing new elevators in the building during the time of the incident, was hurt when he fell from the second floor to the first, according to the Department of Buildings (DOB).

Both men were taken to Elmhurst Hospital. The first victim was pronounced dead en route and the second worker, a man in his 30s, who suffered minor injuries, is listed in stable condition, officials said.

A preliminary investigation by the DOB found that before his fatal fall, the worker was wearing a safety harness, but had not connected the harness to a life line when he fell from a platform inside of the elevator shaft to the basement. The second victim was wearing a safety harness and it was secured to a life line.

The building site has been placed under a full stop work order, the DOB said.

 

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