Tokyo, 19 September, /AJMEDIA/
Two male construction workers died and three others were injured after several of them fell from the seventh floor of a building site near JR Tokyo Station on Tuesday, police said.
Fire and rescue authorities received an emergency call at around 9:20 a.m. saying that several workers had been injured after they fell from a significant height in the building, which is under construction at the site.
The police said that four of the workers are believed to have fallen from the seventh floor of the building to the third after a 15-ton beam collapsed, while the final person was on the third floor when the incident occurred.
The two who died were in their 30s and 40s. One of the three injured men is in his 40s and is in a critical condition, while the two other men, who are in their 20s, suffered injuries and were also taken to hospital, according to police.
The construction site is located in Otemachi, a business district about 350 meters southeast of JR Tokyo Station. A 51-floor building housing a medical facility and a bus terminal is scheduled to be completed there.
People near the site when the incident occurred said they heard a thunderous noise and felt earthquake-like shocks.
An official of the general contractor Obayashi Corp, which is involved in the construction project of the building, said the company is still gathering information.
There have been several fatal accidents at construction sites in Japan in recent years, including one involving a bridge girder falling from a raised platform in Shizuoka, central Japan, in July, which left two people dead and six others injured.