5 Hong Kong construction workers die in fall down elevator shaft of skyscraper

5 Hong Kong workers die in elevator shaft fall

HONG KONG — A construction platform inside an elevator shaft collapsed Sunday, sending five workers falling 20 stories to their deaths inside a Hong Kong skyscraper, officials and state media said. Another worker was injured.

The accident occurred at the International Commerce Center, which will be 118 stories high when completed next year, making it one of the world’s tallest buildings and the highest in Hong Kong.

Speaking at the scene in the Kowloon district, Hong Kong leader Donald Tsang said the men fell after the platform they were working on collapsed in the elevator shaft.

Five workers died, police spokeswoman Anne Lam said. Another man was believed to be receiving treatment at the site.

Police could not confirm a report on the Web site of government-owned radio station RTHK that the workers fell from the 30th floor to the 10th floor.

The building’s developer, major Hong Kong property company Sun Hung Kai, has agreed to pay each of the victims’ families 1 million Hong Kong dollars ($128,000) on top of normal compensation payments, Hong Kong Labor Secretary Matthew Cheung told local media.