WASHINGTON -- A high-rise parking garage collapsed as construction crews were tearing down the partially-demolished structure Sunday, trapping one worker under 'tons and tons of concrete' and sparking an all-night search.
About a dozen workers were dismantling what was left of the 12-story building just a few blocks from the White House when a portion collapsed at about 4:35 p.m.
The rubble tumbled down upon Basilio Barrios, 35, a Guatemala native, who was working on the third floor, authorities said.
Fire officials said they had not detected any signs of life after sending a tracking dog to search for Barrios, who worked for L.E.B. Demolition Co., was dead.
'The position that he was last located in by eyewitnesses and by his fellow workers ... is just under tons and tons of concrete,' said Bill Embrey of the D.C. Fire Department:
Officials said the structure was too shaky and unstable for humans to enter. 'It could continue to fall. At any moment it could continue to fall,' one firefighter said.
Witnesses said nearly a dozen workers were inside the building using welding torches as part of the structure began to collapse, but most of the men escaped.
'They were breaking parts loose so every few minutes more parts of the building would fall,' said Graham Watt, who witnessed the incident. 'All of a sudden part of the building caved in and the floor gave way.
'The workers called for the guy who's trapped. Some of them knelt down and they started to cry.'
Antulio Tobar, another construction worker, said Barrios 'was the only one in the area at the time' the structure began to fall.
'He was cutting with a torch on the third floor when the upper floors collapsed on him,' Tobar said. He said the floors apparently fell because 'an electric generator' on an upper floor was 'too heavy.'
Workers began to tear down the building that housed a parking garage more than a month ago. The crew had been working into the night for more than a week to tear down the building.
Relatives of Barrios called to the scene by officials clutched each other and sobbed as rescue efforts were under way. His cousin, Domingo Alvardeo, said Barrios, a father of five, came to America about a year ago.
