Two men died after a construction accident at a power plant at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, authorities said.
The workers fell into a 30-foot trench and were trapped in Building 49 on the airport grounds before 11:30 am, according to FDNY and other sources.
Both firefighters and Port Authority officials arrived at the airport and extricated the victims trapped in the rubble.
Meanwhile, a spokesman for the fire department declared the two workers dead at the scene.
So far it has not been clear what the workers were doing at the time of the fall, while their identities are yet to be revealed.
The JFK Power Plant is a gas cogeneration facility, which is located at the Jamaica Airport, Queens.
Power generated by the plant is sold to the Port Authority, and incremental electric power is sold to the New York System Operator, according to Calpine, the owner of the plant, which owns and operates four power plants on Long Island.
For its part, a spokesman for the Port Authority, which oversees the airport, confirmed the facts, noting that an investigation is underway.
“An order to stop all construction at JFK has been issued,” the spokesperson said. “The Port Authority is conducting a thorough investigation and will cooperate with all other investigative agencies.”
With information from the New York Post