House under renovation collapses on General Pershing

A house under renovation on General Pershing Street collapsed Thursday afternoon, briefly trapping two workers until neighbors could pull them out.

When firefighters arrived in the 700 block of General Pershing around 2:15 p.m., neighbors were walking the two men out from the collapsed home, said Firefighter Michael Williams. Both men suffered obvious bruises and puncture wounds, Williams said.

“They were both able to walk out,” Williams said.

The roof had landed flat on the floor below, splaying two walls out into the yard. A pair of sunglasses could be seen in a small space where the roof was propped slightly up by a cinder block, creating a small space where one of the men was pulled from.

The New Orleans Fire Department’s initial report lists the cause as a construction accident. A city code inspector was on scene Thursday afternoon investigating.

[Note: This article was first published at 3:40 p.m. Thursday and updated with photos and additional details at 4:43 p.m.]