3 workers killed in scaffold collapse

AUSTIN, Texas, June 11 (UPI) -- Work is suspended on a condominium in Texas pending completion of an investigation into a scaffold accident that killed three men, the developer said Thursday.

The developer, Gary Perkins, told the Austin American-Statesman the deaths were being investigated by the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration and Austin police.

The 21-story condominium tower, known from its location at 21st and Rio streets in Austin as 21 Rio, is near the University of Texas campus.

Harry Evans, a battalion chief with the Austin Fire Department, said investigators have not determined why part of the scaffold collapsed Wednesday afternoon. Two men who fell 11 to 13 floors to the street died immediately, while a third man, who fell to the roof of a parking garage, survived for a few hours.

A fourth man on the scaffold did not fall.

Identities of the dead men had not been released because their families had not been notified.