NEW ORLEANS: Multiple Injuries In Canal Street Hotel Construction Collapse, At Least One Man Dead [VIDEO]

The New Orleans Times-Picayune reports:



One person is dead and three are still missing after part of the Hard Rock hotel under construction in downtown New Orleans collapsed Saturday morning with what witnesses described as a rumble and giant cloud of dust. Multiple injuries have been reported, authorities said. One worker said about 45 people were working inside the building.

Authorities said 18 people had been transported to the area hospitals. They were reported in stable condition. There are no reports of anyone on the street being injured. Authorities were evacuating buildings in a square roughly bounded by Bienville Street, Basin Street, Canal Street and Burgundy.

In an 11:20 a.m. news conference near the scene, New Orleans Fire Department Superintendent Tim McConnell said the upper six to eight floors of the structure collapsed and that the building remains very unstable. “The building is unstable, so a collapse is still possible,” McConnell told reporters.