Victims of downtown Houston scaffolding collapse detail incident

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Saturday, October 17, 2015
Victims of scaffolding collapse detail incident
Six workers received treatment after scaffolding they were working on collapsed, and two of them are talking to Eyewitness News about the harrowing incident.

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- At least one construction worker remains in the hospital Friday night after a massive scaffolding collapse near Minute Maid Park.

The collapse happened just after 11am Friday morning at a luxury apartment construction site located in the 300 block of Crawford. Six workers were rushed to two area hospitals. Some of them had to be pulled from the rubble. Three workers were taken to St. Joseph's Hospital in downtown Houston. Three others were taken to Memorial Hermann Hospital in the Texas Medical Center. None of them suffered life-threatening injuries.

"I heard a noise. I looked up and I saw that it was tumbling down and I had a chance to jump inside. But I've heard that there were people below and that they're condition is bad," said Fecund Jillalba, who was on the fourth level of the scaffolding.

Jillalba was able to escape to safety through an open window in the building.

PHOTOS: Scaffolding collapses in downtown Houston

Jorge Jasso says he also jumped through a window into the building when the scaffolding fell around him.

He told us, through a translator, "All of a sudden, I heard a loud boom. I turned around, I saw the scaffolding collapsing. I was on the second floor when I saw the scaffolding falling. That's when I jumped through a window, and I was hanging there."

He says he immediately turned to his faith for comfort.

"I thought about the guy upstairs, the boss. Then I started running. The first thing that I saw was the window. I just jumped into it. I was there," he told us through a translator.

Jasso's partner, Ezequiel Vasquez, says he was somehow able to balance on the scaffolding.

"The metal started falling and thank God I was able to hold on to a wall," Vasquez told us through a translator. "After everything happened, I started climbing down. Then some kind of material hit me. I was really scared. Really really scared, but thank god everything was okay."

Victor Rubalcaba was not so lucky. He tired to leap for his life, but he couldn't get to an opening in the building soon enough. He fell four stories down. He injured his arm and has a gash on his head. He's expected to be OK.

Another worker, Victor Lujano, who narrowly escaped, said he ran towards the collapsing scaffolding to get to an open window. He jumped. His feet landed on the building. But his eyes were glued to the chaos below.

"I don't know if it was two or three that were left down below. I saw one man that had a pipe impaled in his side. He was spitting out blood from his mouth, but I don't know what happened to him," said Lujano.

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