FORT CARSON, Colo.—A construction worker died and another was critically injured when chunks of concrete rained down on them Monday when a girder broke while workers were installing it, officials said.
Officials said the worker who died was hit by falling concrete while on the ground. He was pronounced dead at Memorial Hospital, spokesman Mark Goldberg said.
Base spokeswoman Dee McNutt said it was unclear if the concrete girder broke while being lowered into place by a crane, if it crashed into another part of the structure, or if it shattered when it hit the ground. Concrete girders are made from steel reinforced concrete.
Names were not released.
The project is part of more than $373.9 million in construction under way at the base to accommodate an additional 10,000 soldiers, and their families, who are moving here from Fort Hood, Texas. The workers were constructing an office building.
Fort Carson Fire Chief Glen Silloway said the severely injured worker suffered severe injuries when he was thrown from the bucket of a boom truck and hit by debris. Boom trucks lift workers high off the ground and he apparently was helping guide the girder into place.
McNutt said that worker was in critical condition.
Two other workers suffered minor injuries.
An after business hours message left at the offices of Minneapolis-based Mortenson Construction, the general contractor on the project, was not immediately returned.
The incident is at least the second major construction accident in Colorado. On Thursday, 13 workers were injured when the roof of a building under construction in Greenwood Village collapsed onto the 12th and 13th floors while workers poured cement.
