Thursday, officials said the rescue effort at the site of a Martin County coal tippler that collapsed on two construction workers Tuesday and killed one of them had moved into a new phase. A few hours after Lexington firefighters who’d spent a day there returned, officials held a news conference. Martin County Judge-Executive Lon Lafferty spoke to the media, including WYMT-TV, which provided this audio.
“They've decided to change to a different phase of the rescue, to where we actually move into removing layers of the of the rubble, to try to see if we can find that the missing worker, we haven't given up hope.”
Tuesday night through much of Thursday, rescue workers had to battle the cold and the remains of a building that could fall on them, too. Jody Meiman is with Louisville Metro Emergency Services.
“While we had people in the building, you know, some of the steel and some of the concrete that's in there. actually move. So that's why we've got the structural engineers that are on site with us so that they can see how things are working now and how things when it does move how you know, how may move in the future.”
Rescue workers from several Kentucky cities, and elsewhere, are still onsite.
** WEKU is working hard to be a leading source for public service, fact-based journalism. Monthly sustaining donors are the top source of funding for this growing nonprofit news organization. Please join others in your community who support WEKU by making your donation.
