Three men are still feared to be trapped under the wreckage of the residential building that collapsed in Davenport, Iowa, earlier this week, with the latest search and rescue efforts failing to find them on Thursday.
Ryan Hitchcock, Branden Colvin and Daniel Prien remain unaccounted for five days after a large section of the six-storey building collapsed. Relatives of Mr Hitchcock and Mr Colvin believe the men are in the rubble, while police say they have not been in contact with Mr Prien’s family.
A contractor meanwhile revealed he warned the building’s owner Andrew Wold – and workers conducting construction on it – that the disaster was imminent.
Ryan Shaffer told The Quad-Cities Times he gave at least three warnings that the structure’s instability could prove deadly. His first warning came in February, when he claims Mr Wold approached him with potential work to shore up the building – but then decided to hire a cheaper firm instead.
Just two days before the collapse, Mr Shaffer said he told construction workers: “Get away, you’re going to die.”
His last warning to workers was just two hours before the building came crashing down.
