On Aug. 8, the body of Quinnyon Wimberly was removed from the site after nearly 10 months.
Almost 10 months after the collapse of the Hard Rock Hotel, crews recovered the body of Quinnyon Wimberly.
Mayor LaToya Cantrell was at the collapse site to comfort family members when the news came that Wimberly’s body had been removed from the building. Those at the site included his brother Frank Wimberly and mother Irene Wimberly.
The recovery of Wimberly’s body was initially stated to happen last week, but officials said weather delays slowed their progress.
Day #301: Remotely-operated robots continue to demolish the Hard Rock Hotel Collapse Site, hopefully making a path to remove the body of Quinnyon Wimberly, which has been trapped in the building since Oct. 2019. 📸 @MattHintonPhoto for @VeryLocalNOLA pic.twitter.com/dLdWtFFd0a
— Matthew Hinton (@MattHintonPhoto) August 7, 2020
Crews began the daunting task for demolishing the remnants of the Hard Rock Hotel collapse on May 15. The collapse happened in Oct. 2019, killing three workers.
Movement on demolishing the site was stagnant from Oct. 23 until May. Two unstable cranes on the site were previously imploded, but legal battles between the city and the site developer, 1031 Canal Development LLC, kept progress at a halt.
The body of Jose Ponce Arreola is still trapped in site wreckage.