Mérida, Yucatán — A missing person’s report has prompted rescue workers to continue searching rubble at a construction site where at least five workers were killed on Monday.
Investigators are leaning toward a new theory as to why the frame of a new hotel tower collapsed. The fatal accident was initially reported as a crane operator’s error. But structural flaws are unofficially seen as a factor, said a spokesman from the state attorney general’s office.
Paseo 60, a 12-story hotel-retail complex behind the Hyatt Regency, was rising quickly and scheduled to open in April.
Crews looking for a sixth victim at Calle 60 and 35 are following the lead of a missing worker’s relatives who complained to the attorney general.
Construction work has stopped, and the company in charge of the work, Monterrey-based Predecón, has not turned in a list of who was working on site at the time, the state prosecutor said. The huge company also maintains offices in Mérida.
Predecón, which specializes in prefabricated concrete in all its projects, also has not issued a public statement about the accident.
The company has built over 200 hotels, stadiums, schools, resorts and other large-scale projects since 1992, according to their website.
The Torre Banamex, a rounded modernist office tower on Avenida Prolongación de Montejo, is one of Predecón’s most visible projects in Mérida.
On their projects page, Predecón also lists Country Towers, City Center, the Gran Museo del Mundo Maya and the Chapel of Our Virgin of Guadalupe in the city’s north. They are currently involved with construction of Cabo North, a huge mall complex north of the Periférico,
With information from Diario de Yucatán
