A recovery mission is underway to recover the bodies of two New Orleans men killed in October 2019 when a Hard Rock Hotel construction site partially collapsed.
Authorities hope to reach the remains of Quinnyon Wimberly later this week and José Ponce Arreola in the middle of next week, New Orleans Fire Chief Tim McConnell said Monday at a press conference.
“Right now we are focused, as we always have been, but now we have moved from all the preparation work to the recovery part of this process,” he said.
The two men were among the three workers killed on October 12 when part of the 18-story building collapsed during construction. Authorities have said it was too dangerous to recover the bodies of Wimberly, whose remains are trapped on the 11th floor, and Arreola, who is on a deck on the 8th floor.
The body of the third worker, Anthony Magrette, 49, was removed a day after the collapse.
McConnell said many preparations have been made for the recovery of the bodies and that he wants to ensure the safety of the recovery teams.
Wimberly’s mother told NBC News that the past nine months have been difficult, but she understands why it has taken her so long to recover the body of her son, who died exactly one month before his 37th birthday.
“It’s been a long time and almost 10 months have passed, but it’s not because they didn’t try,” Irene Wimberly said in a telephone interview on Tuesday. “From day one, I told them I didn’t want to see anyone else hurt or killed. I didn’t want anyone’s life to be in danger trying to get him out.”
“This is the worst thing I’ve ever had to go through,” he said. “Whatever it takes to get us through, that’s what we’ll do. I cry a lot. That’s my baby.”
Part of the reason it has taken so long to recover the remains of Wimberly and Arreola is that the city and the developer of the building have disagreed over the best way to tear down the rest of the building, according to local station WWL-TV.
In January, a tarp covering one of the bodies fell due to strong winds, leaving it exposed and sparking a public outcry.
Buildings near the site have now been demolished to allow crane access to debris, and infrastructure in the area had to be protected, McConnell said. Starting Wednesday, there will be a no-fly zone to keep drones away.
“This is a complicated operation and we want to make sure everyone is safe,” said the fire chief, adding that the recovery process is challenging “due to the amount of rubble under the victims.”
“It wouldn’t have taken us that long, now it’s been over 10 months. It’s very frustrating, obviously, for rescuers doing this for a living. And you can only imagine what it’s like for families, what they’re going through.” ,” he said.
McConnell said Wimberly will be more difficult to reach due to the number of floors hanging over his body. He said reaching Arreola will also be a challenge and will require teams to remove the debris that has already collapsed.
The chief said that he and Mayor LaToya Cantrell have been in constant contact with the families of the two victims.
“It is difficult to lose someone and then particularly difficult to wait 10 months, where we are now, before I can get that final closure,” he said.
When the building collapsed, two giant cranes were perched on one side of the wreckage. The controlled explosions on October 20 shot down one of the cranes, according to NBC affiliate WDSU in New Orleans.
In addition to the three who died, dozens of people were injured in the collapse.
Arreola’s brother filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the developers and contractors of the building accusing them of failing to construct the building in a way that kept workers safe, according to NOLA.com. The brother could not be reached Tuesday.
Magrette and Wimberly’s children also filed separate lawsuits against the developers, alleging that the negligence caused the death of their father, according to WDSU.
The developer said in January that the cause of the collapse was still under investigation, and that “it relied on design professionals to construct the building,” Engineering News-Record reported.
