A construction worker is in critical condition after he fell from a fifth-floor landing at a site in Northeast Miami-Dade.
Officials said 27-year-old Edwin Vasquez fell at the construction site on Northeast 2nd Avenue and 25th Street just after 10 a.m. Sunday.
"I hear this loud pow, it echoes throughout everything and all the construction workers stop," witness Jack Ridges said. "So then I go outside to check and my neighbor is downstairs telling me hey there's an ambulance right down."
Paramedics said it was a difficult rescue that took more than 30 minutes.
"Several of his coworkers ran to his aid and they found that he was not responding at all and 911 was called," Miami Fire Rescue Spokesman Lt. Iggy Carroll said. "When fire rescue arrived we found this 27-year-old not responsive, on the floor, and realizing that it was going to be very difficult to get him down to transport him to the hospital, we had to call our technical rescue team to use one of our ladder trucks to lower him four stories down to wait for paramedics."
Vasquez was rushed to Ryder Trauma Center for his injuries.
"He's in critical condition, it's bad," friend Rubelio Gutierrez told NBC 6 in Spanish.
Gutierrez said the victim's family in Guatemala still doesn't know about the accident.
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The construction company, Melo Group, said it is conducting its own investigation and released the following statement:
"We believe that the contractor was following proper safety procedures at the time of the incident, as is required by our company."
The work site has been shut down until further notice.
