A morning shift at the sprawling Hudson Yards site turned tragically silent when 52-year-old Jorge Sanchez, a union carpenter who immigrated from Honduras in the 1990s, lost his life after falling into a deep excavation pit during his work with New York Concrete Corporation.
It happened just before 9 a.m. on Thursday at the address 605 W. 30th Street on Manhattan’s West Side, near the busy West 30th and 12th Avenue corridor. Officials say Sanchez plunged approximately 50 feet — or as later clarified, into a pit some 60 feet deep — while working on a freshly poured foundation wall on the site of the Gateway Tunnel Project.
When the emergency call came in, firefighters and paramedics from the New York City Fire Department (FDNY) arrived within minutes and found Sanchez unresponsive at the bottom of the pit. Rescue crews entered via staircase, lowered a basket for extraction, and administered CPR — but he was without a pulse and showed no signs of life. He was subsequently rushed to a hospital in critical condition and later died.
The tragedy has halted work at the site while investigators probe how the incident occurred. No definitive explanation has been publicly released for the fall, and officials say determining the exact cause remains under investigation.
In a joint statement, the project’s overseers — Related Companies, the Gateway Development Commission and Amtrak — confirmed Sanchez’s employment by the New York Concrete Corporation and expressed “our thoughts are with his loved ones during this difficult time”. The New York City District Council of Carpenters also released a message of solidarity, calling Sanchez “more than a carpenter… part of our family” and pledging support to his spouse and four children.
Colleagues say Sanchez had immigrated to the U.S. in the 1990s, was three years away from retirement, and took immense pride in his role as a craftsman and provider for his family. His sudden passing is a stark reminder of the hazardous conditions workers face daily in high-risk construction settings.
As the labor community mourns one of its own, the investigation now turns to issues of site safety, training, supervision and whether proper fall-protection measures were in place. In loving memory of Jorge Sanchez, the hope is that his sacrifice spurs renewed attention to worker safety and a commitment that no family have to endure such loss.