NEW YORK — Parking garage worker Pierre Vancol considers himself twice blessed.
The 55-year-old Flatbush resident survived the Tuesday afternoon collapse at the Lower Manhattan facility — bringing back memories of escaping with his life from 2010′s devastating earthquake in Haiti.
“I’m still shaking,” Vancol told the Daily News on Thursday. “This is the second time this thing’s happened to me. God saved me two times.”
The employee recalled how a normal shift morphed quickly into a terrifying and all too real nightmare.
“I think it was shaking one or two minutes,” he said. “We just ran to save our lives. I was getting a ticket for a customer. I had to move away. I feel like something is going to happen.”
The survivor spoke before Enterprise Ann Parking LLC, the garage tenant, issued a statement saying they were fully cooperating with city agencies and other authorities investigating what happened.
“This is a tragic event,” the statement declared. “We are devastated at the loss of one of our long time employees and our thoughts are with his family and those who were injured in the accident. We thank all of the first responders who quickly attended to those who were impacted and appreciate their courageous work.”
Vancol wound up at New York-Presbyterian Lower Manhattan with injuries suffered as he fled the collapse of the garage with a rooftop parking lot. He spent six hours at the hospital before heading home.
“I got hurt on my back, on my feet,” he said. “To save my life, I had to run.”
The adrenaline kept him from immediately noticing he was hurt.
“When things happen, you don’t feel nothing at the time,” he said. “My back is acting up ... It was very scary. I’m fine because of God.”
Haitian officials put the death toll of the quake 13 years ago at more than 300,000.
The survivor offered fond memories of garage general manager Willis Moore, the lone fatality in the collapse. His remains were recovered and removed from the rubble on Wednesday night after the use of robotic dogs to locate the victim, officials said.
The two colleagues knew each other for the past three years and shared a good working relationship, said Vancol.
“Very nice manager, a good guy,” he said of the 59-year-old Queens man. “This guy is a friend to everybody, always tried to help everybody looking for jobs and things like that.”
Work on the site continued for a third day, with multiple vehicles stranded on the buckled top deck of the garage and tons of concrete waiting for removal. The FDNY remained on site in case of any potential fires as the clean-up continued, with all utilities in the building shut down.
Officials said the city crews were working to remove the debris without causing additional damage or risking injury to the workers.
It was a delicate operation to recover the victim and remove as many as 90 vehicles scattered on the structure’s buckled top deck and amid tons of shattered concrete. Crews used cranes to pluck cars from the ruins one by one but made only modest progress.
Vancol recalled five co-workers finding their way out of the doomed garage, including one in the basement, one in an elevator and two on the second floor. Several were hospitalized but are expected to recover.
“Some of them have an issue,” he said. “But we’re still alive.”
