Fatal Work Accident

One construction worker was killed, and another was critically injured after falling nine stories from a scaffold in Hyde Park on Thursday.

The accident happened around noon at a construction site on the University Of Chicago Medical Center campus at East 57th Street and South Drexel Avenue. The workers were iron workers employed by New Horizon Steel. 

According to the Chicago fire officials, the workers fell from the scaffolding of a concrete structure on the upper floors after the wind caused it to become loose. A fire department spokesperson said wind might have been a factor in the accident. The nearest weather station at Midway Airport reported wind gusts of about 33 miles per hour around the time of the fall.

One of the workers died at the scene. The Cook County Medical Examiner's Office identified the man as David O'Donnell, 27, of Oak Forest.

The second worker was taken to the University of Chicago Medical Center nearby in critical condition.

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