MAY 5, 2015
A worker at a construction site for a luxury hotel in
Midtown Manhattan fell down an elevator shaft on Tuesday, plunging hundreds of
feet to his death, the police said.
The man, Christian Ginesi, 25, was working on the 24th floor
of the Riu Plaza Times Square, which is being built at 301 West 46th Street,
when he fell down the elevator shaft around 12:30 p.m.
His body was found in the cellar of the building.
Mr. Ginesi, who lived in Jersey City, was taken to Bellevue
Hospital Center, where he was pronounced dead shortly before 2 p.m., the police
said.
The cause of the accident is under investigation, according
to the authorities, but there had been past problems at the site.
In July 2013, work on the 30-story, 300,000-square-foot
hotel was ordered stopped after a complaint about an unsafe work environment.
An inspection revealed a number of problems, including a failure to install
rails around floor openings.
The property is owned by RIU Hotel & Resorts, based in
Majorca. The builder is the Rinaldi Group, and a lawyer for it said the company
was “incredibly saddened by this horrible accident, and our prayers are with
the family.” The lawyer, Bradley Gerstman, said the company was cooperating
with the authorities.