NEW ORLEANS — Crews removed the body of 36-year-old Quinnyon Wimberly from the collapsed Hard Rock Hotel site on Saturday. Wimberly was one of the three construction workers, who were killed when the hotel collapsed October 12, 2019.
For 10 months, his body remained buried underneath the rubble at the site.
Wimberly’s family members prayed his body would be recovered, but watching it happen was more difficult than they imagined, they said.
“When I saw that basket coming down with him in it, I couldn’t take it. It was too hard. It was a feeling that I hadn’t gone through in this process,” said Wimberly’s older brother Frank Wimberly Jr.
Once his body was lowered from the building his family had a chance to embrace him.
"When we went to the coroner's office we were able to touch the body bag he was in,” Wimberly Jr. said. “My mother actually laid her head on it. We all said a prayer. We felt like we needed to touch him. Didn't want him to be alone.”
The Wimberly family knows it will take a while to heal from this, but have faith they’ll get through it.
“I'm sure the healing process will come but for right now, everything is still fresh,” said Wimberly’s mother, Irene Wimberly. “It's going to take a while, but what I do know is that God is able."
The Wimberly family told Eyewitness News Quinnyon Wimberly’s body is headed to Baton Rouge for an autopsy. They said it will take two months before they get him back. They plan to cremate him and divide his ashes up amongst his loved ones.
► Get breaking news from your neighborhood delivered directly to you by downloading the FREE WWL-TV News app now in the IOS App Store or Google Play.
