Five construction workers have been taken to hospital after scaffolding and cladding collapsed at a new academy building under construction in Shropshire.
The incident happened at around 4.25pm this afternoon at the Abraham Darby School on Ironbridge Road in the Madeley area of Telford where Kier Moss is main contractor on the ยฃ35m new academy job.
Two rapid response vehicles, four ambulances, the Midlands Air Ambulance from Cosford, the Hazardous Area Response Team and two paramedic managers were sent to the scene.
A West Midlands Ambulance Service spokesman said: โWhen ambulance staff arrived, they found a large metal structure that had been put up around the school had collapsed.
โAt the time of the collapse a number of workman had been on the structure and had become injured as a result of the incident.
โIn total, there were four serious injuries:
โA man in his 40s had suffered spinal injuries. He was immobilised using a neck collar and spinal board and was airlifted to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham.
โA man in his 50s had leg and chest injuries, a man in his 20s had abdominal injuries and another man in his 20s had back and pelvic injuries. All three were taken to Princess Royal Hospital in Telford which had been alerted to the possibility of a large number of patients.
โThe final patient was a man who had minor injuries and was taken for a check up.
โThe ambulance service worked with colleagues from the fire service to get all of the patients out of the wreckage of the collapsed structure. The structure was then searched to ensure there were no further patients.
โDespite the complexity of the incident and the difficult working conditions, all of the patients were on route to hospital within only an hour of the first 999 call.โ