Jul 22, 2008 6:23 pm US/Central
Indoor Bridge Collapses At Horseshoe Casino
16 People Sent Plunging Into Lake Michigan
HAMMOND, Ind. (CBS) ―
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An indoor bridge collapsed at Horseshoe Casino in Hammond, Ind., sending 16 people into the Lake Michigan.
CBS
Suddenly and without warning, an indoor pedestrian bridge at the Horseshoe Casino in Hammond collapsed into Lake Michigan, sending more than a dozen people into the water.
As CBS 2 Northwest Indiana Bureau Chief Pamela Jones reports, the bridge is used by staff at the casino to get between the old casino complex and the new one.
For weeks, casino patrons have noticed workers moving slot machines and other casino equipment onto the new gaming floor, which was set to open soon. But on Tuesday morning, an area not usually seen by customers plunged.
That ramp collapsed as it was being attached to the new Horseshoe Casino in Hammond.
On Monday night, crews started moving a huge vessel which houses the old casino out, and they pushed the new barge with the new casino in.
Crews were within 8 feet of having the barge where it needed to be, lowering one of the ramps, when something pushed out of place.
It's a $500 million project at the Horseshoe, but managers didn't expect the new casino to be unveiled like this.
A walkway casino players would use to get to the facility fell, forcing 16 workers on the barge below to dive into up to 20 feet of water. Most of them suffered cuts and bruises, but one was sent to the hospital with a shoulder injury, fire officials said.
"Either die or get off the barge so that's what they did," said Mike Summers of Iron Workers Local 395. "They all jumped into the lake and at that time, the barge kicked completely out from under it. Luckily, it wasn't like dropping something. It was a slow reaction. As soon as the barge kicked, they realized that it was coming down."
One hundred tons of steel came crashing down. Fortunately, no one was trapped.
"They were bringing some passageways in to get people from land to the Horseshoe, and in the process of putting them in place, somehow the barge that this was attached to, it kicked out, and the 16 men were on it had all fallen in the water," said Kevin Murgraf of the Hammond Fire Department.
The casino has been closed to the public since 1 a.m. Monday, so they can make the switch from the old casino building to the new. Casino officials say they do not it will anticipate the grand opening, which was scheduled for Aug. 8. Some more casino customers were supposed to get a new glimpse of the building this coming Friday.
Work on the new building was temporarily stopped, and investigators from the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration were expected to be called to the scene.
The casino is thankful those workers will be OK. Now the task here is for crews to figure out what went wrong.
"We are closed this week anyway as we move our old casino out and move the new one in place until we get engineering to be able to come in and give us a full assessment of that ramp," said Horseshoe Casino Regional President and General Manager Rick Mazer.
Crews were expecting to bring in a crane and inflatable devices to lift the walkway.
The worker hospitalized was complaining of neck pain. He's an iron worker from Louisville and may have hit something on the way down.
All the iron workers were wearing floatation devices, which may very well have saved their lives.
CBS 2's Pamela Jones and Kris Habermehl contributed to this report.
(© MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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