Family members hold vigil for man missing in Hard Rock Hotel collapse

NEW ORLEANS, La. (WVUE) - Two people are dead and one person is missing after a building collapse on Canal Street. City officials say the Hard Rock Hotel was under construction when the top portion collapsed killing one person and injuring more than two dozen others.

Family members of one of the missing workers are camping out on Canal Street for the night.

While crews aren’t searching anymore, the worker’s wife says she’s not leaving without him.

Nova’s husband is 49-year-old stucco foreman Anthony “Tony” Magrette. She says he loves his job and wasn’t scheduled for work Saturday but was working overtime when he was caught in the collapse. She also says he’s a loving husband with four grown children and five granddaughters.

Urban Search and Rescue crews stopped their search Saturday after two attempts. A search and rescue volunteer says they’re unable to go back into the building until it’s been stabilized. That’s going to require another crane, which is being escorted from Baton Rouge, to come in. It could arrive as soon as of Saturday night, but officials say the whole ordeal is going to take some time to remedy.

“We appreciate all the support that has come down here from restaurants and things for our first responders – just remember we have first responders going into a very dangerous building right now,” says New Orleans Homeland Security Director Collin Arnold.

Family members have been at the scene of the collapse keeping vigil for Tony.

Nova his wife says he was last seen on the ninth or tenth floor. The problem is, officials say the building is only stable up to the eighth floor.

Copyright 2019 WVUE. All rights reserved.