UPDATED 6/3/2015 4:21 p.m. The name of a construction worker killed Wednesday while working an Edgewater job site has reportedly been released.
Rene Carrero, 29, was killed when he was struck by a piece of equipment that came loose while being lifted into the air by crane, NBC 6 reported. He was working on the 37th floor of the Biscayne Beach condo project when it happened.
His coworkers tried to help him, but Carrero died on the scene. Miami Fire-Rescue responded to the accident and called in a special team to bring the body down by crane, because the building’s elevator could not yet reach the 37th floor, NBC 6 reported.
Carrero’s family told reporters on the scene that he had been working construction for a few years and had been injured while on the job before.
Eastview Development, one of the project’s developers, released this statement to The Real Deal: “Our thoughts and prayers are with the family of Mr. Carrero following yesterday’s tragic accident. The matter is being investigated by the proper authorities and our team is cooperating in that process.”
Plaza Construction Group Florida LLC is the contracting firm building the project, according to Miami-Dade County records. The company is the southeastern division of Plaza Construction, a New York-based general contracting firm that has worked on some of South Florida’s biggest projects like Related Group’s Paraiso Bay and Icon Bay. Plaza was acquired in 2013 by China Construction America, a wholly owned subsidiary of the China State Construction Engineering Corp.
Plaza released this statement to The Real Deal: “We are cooperating with the investigation and the company expresses its deepest sympathies to the family of the worker.”
Biscayne Beach is an upcoming 51-story condo project with 399 units. It’s being developed by a joint-venture between GTIS Partners and Eastview. Construction on the project, located at 711 Northeast 29th Street, began in June 2014 and is expected to finish in December 2016. Eastview is also the developer behind Elysee, a newly launched condo tower also in Edgewater.
In recent years construction injuries and deaths have spiked to the point where they outpace new development, according to a New York Times investigation. Locally, a worker was injured at a Midtown Miami job site in early October. And in January, two workers were hurt when a wall fell at a downtown Miami construction site. [NBC 6] — Sean Stewart-Muniz