MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. – A black pickup truck with Texas plates arrived Thursday morning to the site where three workers from a Texas-based tower company were killed in a freak accident the day before.
Marcus Goffena, 31, Benito Rodriguez, 35, and Brachton Barber, 24, died in the accident.
OSHA visited the 1,250-foot tower at 501 NW 207th St. on Thursday.
Sky 10 was above the scene Thursday morning, giving us a glimpse of the work equipment that still remains high atop the TV transmission tower that WPLG shares with WSVN.
A mangled mess of rope and broken machinery was still on the ground.
Local 10 engineer Juan Rodriguez was on the ground and witnessed the incident.
"We were running away from the tower," he said.
Rodriguez said an experienced crew from the company, Tower King II, was on the scaffolding near the top of the tower.
They were replacing a dummy pole with a new antenna for Channel 7 when something went wrong.
"The crane operator started screaming and crying that they were dead on the floor," Rodriguez said.
A man who lives in the area, Eric Garner, also witnessed the incident.
"When I heard the boom, I saw the debris fly up in the air and I immediately called 911," he said.
The three workers were pronounced dead at the scene.
Their bodies were taken away by the medical examiner’s office late Wednesday night. The victims fell approximately 1,000 feet.
Construction was completed on the tower in 2009 by the same tower company.
The Miami Gardens Police Department is investigating the fatal accident.