Platform Falls 31 Stories, 3 Die in Houston

HOUSTON —  A window-washing platform fell from near the top of a 36-story downtown skyscraper today, killing three people and maiming a woman pedestrian, officials said.

The dead were two men who were on the platform when it fell and a female pedestrian who was below, said Paul Pepe, director of emergency services for Houston.

The injured woman also was walking down the street, said Pepe.

“It looks like they (the men) might have stayed with the scaffolding all the way down. The two men were in the front of the scaffold. The women were side by side when they were hit,” Pepe said.

The scaffolding bounced off the street and hit the two women, who were standing at a corner of the busy downtown intersection.

“We think it came from the 31st floor. The one person who is injured is suffering from a leg partially amputated. She was just walking by. It took her by surprise. She did not know what happened,” Pepe said.

The accident at the Pennzoil Building occurred about 12:20 p.m., when the street normally is filled with lunch-hour pedestrians.