At least three people died and eight were injured on Friday when the scaffolding surrounding a 19-story building in the Swiss city of Lausanne collapsed.
The accident occurred shortly before 9:30 local time, when the metal scaffolding collapsed „like a house of cards,” a witness told AFP.
The entire structure mounted on one of the facades of a 60-meter high building fell, and the workers on the scaffolding fell to the ground, trapped under the pile of metal.
According to a provisional assessment by the regional police, more than ten workers were directly affected by the accident in Prilly, on the outskirts of Lausanne. Three people died, and four of those who survived are seriously injured and have been taken to the hospital. Two other injured individuals were hospitalized, as reported by RFI.
„There are still one or two people missing,” a police spokesperson said.
The cause of the accident is not clear, he said.
According to the initial information released by the public radio station RTS, the elevator used to transport workers and materials to the top of the building fell when it was near the 13th floor and pulled the scaffolding with it.
Fernand Monot, a retiree who witnessed the incident, recounted seeing a group of workers coming out of a nearby shop with pastry products and heading towards the elevator.
„I saw the elevator going up, then suddenly I heard a loud noise… Everything collapsed,” he said. „It fell like a house of cards… It didn’t stop, just made a clattering noise all the way down. I think they were in the elevator,” the witness added.
Construction workers on the site told AFP that there were no specific safety issues. They said on condition of anonymity that the excessive weight of the elevator could have caused the accident.
„It lasted at least seven long seconds. I thought it was a bomb,” one of the workers recounted.