Witnesses say they could hear the shriek of metal in a thundering collapse of a New York building that was under construction Tuesday. Corrugated metal reportedly fell under the weight of freshly poured concrete at the five-story construction project in Brighton Beach. Five workers were smothered by falling debris in the construction site accident. Rescue workers had to dig through the debris to reach the five workers after the accident.

One concrete worker, who apparently was not one of the injured, told the New York Times that he saw the slabs buckling. He saw the building collapsing and saw all the debris falling down on top of the five workers. He told the Times that seconds after the building collapsed, he could hear the workers yelling and screaming down below him. He was on a ladder on his concrete pouring truck at the time of the accident.

Authorities say one of the injured workers died after the rescue effort as a result of the injuries sustained in the building collapse. Three other workers were taken to Lutheran Medical Center after being rescued and were listed in stable condition. The fifth worker rescued from the debris reportedly declined medical treatment.

The Commissioner of the Buildings Department says safety issues may be involved in the Brooklyn construction accident. He says the workers "were pouring concrete in the wrong sequence." The concrete reportedly was being poured from the top of the construction site first, and then working the way down to lower floors. The Building Department believes that sequence in pouring the concrete was "a major contributor" to the building collapse.

An investigation into the New York construction site accident is underway. Investigators are expected to go through the site piece by piece to gather information and determine the cause of the accident. A stop-work order was placed on the site Tuesday night after the collapse.

Source: New York Times, "Worker Dies After Being Rescued From Building Collapse in Brooklyn," Nov. 8, 2011