A 23-year-old apprentice worker has died and two others have been injured after a glass roof collapsed at a construction site at Curtin University in Western Australia.
Emergency services were called at 12:34pm after the roof gave way at the worksite, operated by contractor Lendlease near the medical school at Curtin’s Perth campus.
Police said two construction workers had been standing on the building’s canopy carrying out work when it suddenly gave way, with both men falling 20 metres to the ground.
One of the men died at the scene, while the second worker was seriously injured and taken to hospital.
Another man working inside the structure was also injured when the roof came crashing down and was taken to hospital.
The cause of the collapse is not yet known. Police said the family of the deceased man had been notified.
St John Ambulance confirmed one person was dead and two men in their 20s had sustained “multiple injuries” and had been taken to Royal Perth Hospital.
Worksafe officials were also sent to the scene, and the watchdog later confirmed it was investigating the man’s death.
“Curtin University wishes to extend its sincere condolences, thoughts and support to all those impacted by today’s tragic incident on campus,” it said in a statement.
Lendlease were also ‘deeply saddened by the tragic incident’. Lendlease said both the worker who died and the two men who were injured were subcontractors.
There was a “massive crashing sound” which sounded like smashing glass, someone filling a skip bin and you were standing three feet away from it. It was a tremendous noise,” one worker said.
There had been some workers working under the structure earlier but had just come down for lunch.
One worker said “If it had happened five minutes earlier, there would have been probably 15 to 20 people working in that area, so we’re very lucky,”.
The construction site was evacuated as shocked workers gathered nearby.
Source: ABC News
