Sadly, tragedy has struck yet another college football stadium undergoing construction.
According to multiple media outlets, 55-year-old construction worker Jose Dario Suarez died following an accident at the site of the new Baylor football stadium late Tuesday afternoon. Another, unidentified man was injured.
The two men were working on a pedestrian bridge spanning the Brazos River that will connect the the university campus to McLane Stadium, the future home of the Bears. The boom to which the two men were harnessed broke away from the crane, plunging both men into what KSAT-TV described as near-freezing temperatures.
One of the men was able to unfasten his safety harness and was pulled to safety by emergency personnel. He was being treated for hypothermia at a local hospital.
The other man was unable to detach his safety harness. Divers found his body, still attached to the boom, four hours later.
The incident is being treated as an “industrial accident,” the Waco Tribune reported, and is currently under investigation.
The $260 million, 45,000-seat stadium is expected to be completed in time for Baylor’s 2014 opener against SMU.
In early December of last year, a 25-year-old construction worker died as a result of injuries sustained in a four-story fall at Kyle Field. That home of the Texas A&M Aggies is currently undergoing a $450 million renovation/expansion.