A 30-year-old man was found dead Tuesday night among the collapsed walls of a construction site at the Martin’s Famous Potato Rolls plant in Franklin County, Pennsylvania State Police said.
Trooper Megan Frazer said the man’s body was located around 9:45 p.m. at the Martin’s plant off Garber Road in Guilford Township. His identity will be released after next of kin has been notified, Frazer said.
State police said he was the only person unaccounted for after the collapse.
Franklin County dispatch reports said about three 25-by 50-foot sections of concrete came down around 2 p.m. Tuesday, just about the time that a storm was hitting the site. However, it’s unclear whether the incident was weather-related.
Each of the slab sections, individually, weigh many tons.
Martin’s spokeswoman Julie Martin told PennLive search-and-rescue teams were called in to conduct a painstakingly thorough search, in hopes the missing construction worker was alive in a void in the collapse zone.
“That’s why they’re moving very meticulously and carefully as they move things, hopefully to be able to locate him,” she said.
Martin said all employees at the Martin’s production plant, which has not yet been physically connected to the new site, were safe and accounted for and that operations continued Tuesday during search-and-rescue efforts.
Numerous fire departments responded to the scene and were involved in rescue, then recovery efforts, according to state police.
Martin’s broke ground late last year on the building is that company officials said will include approximately 260,000 square feet of additional production capacity and a 16,000 square foot cold dock upon completion. The company said the expansion was needed to meet increased demand for both its fresh retail and frozen international products.
State police are continuing to investigate.
Staff writer Charles Thompson contributed to this report.
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