Hong Kong workers die in skyscraper fall - 6 fall 20 stories when platform collapses

[Liberal_in_LA]

Hong Kong workers die in skyscraper fall

Six people died after falling from a platform in the elevator shaft of the International Commerce Centre in Hong Kong.

HONG KONG (AP) — A construction platform inside an elevator shaft collapsed Sunday, sending six workers falling about 20 stories to their deaths inside a Hong Kong skyscraper, officials said.

The accident occurred at the International Commerce Center, which will be 118 stories high when completed next year, making it one of the world's tallest buildings and the highest in Hong Kong.

Speaking at the scene in the Kowloon district, Hong Kong leader Donald Tsang told reporters the men fell after the platform they were working on collapsed in the elevator shaft.

All six workers died, police spokesman Michael Kwan said. The workers were believed to have fallen from around the 30th floor to the 10th floor, he said.

The building's developer, major Hong Kong property company Sun Hung Kai, has agreed to pay each of the victims' families $128,000 on top of normal compensation payments, Hong Kong Labor Secretary Matthew Cheung told local media.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2009-09-13-hk-skyscraper_N.htm?csp=24&RM_Exclude=Juno