NEW ORLEANS — The bodies of two workers killed in the Hard Rock collapse last October could be recovered as early as this week.
NOFD Chief Tim McConnell said that significant progress was made at the collapse site over the weekend and recovery efforts for the bodies of Quinnyon Wimberly and Jose Ponce Arreola will begin later this week or early next week.
“I don’t mean to be vague, but safety is always going to come first,” McConnell said. “The best calculations from the engineers say that it’s going to come later this week or early next week.”
More debris and equipment will be removed from the collapse site before recovery efforts begin. Once the site is deemed safe, recovery crews will be lowered toward the remains in baskets. Those workers will recover the remains of Wimberly and Ponce Arreola, which will then be transported to the coroner.
Once the victims’ bodies have been removed, demolition can continue.
“The goal is to try and get those upper floors down before we get too much deeper into storm season,” McConnell said.
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