MIAMI — An 85-foot drilling rig collapsed at a Brickell construction site Monday morning, crushing vehicles, trapping two workers inside a construction container and setting a woman's SUV on fire.
The collapse happened shortly after 8 a.m. near Brickell Bay Drive and Southeast 12th Street, at 1201 Brickell Bay Drive, where construction is underway on the future headquarters of Citadel.
According to Miami Fire Rescue, the rig fell across the roadway and struck three vehicles. Two were parked and unoccupied. The third, a white BMW SUV, was being driven south on Brickell Bay Drive when the equipment began to fall.
The woman behind the wheel saw the rig coming down and attempted to reverse away from it. She managed to move far enough that the rig struck the front of her SUV rather than the passenger compartment.
The BMW then caught fire.
The driver escaped through the rear of the vehicle before flames consumed much of the SUV. She was later taken to Mercy Hospital with minor injuries.
At the construction site, the falling rig also crushed a metal construction container with two workers, ages 27 and 29, still inside.
Firefighters arriving at the scene faced both the burning vehicle and the two trapped workers. Miami Fire Rescue's technical rescue team worked to cut through the damaged container and free the men while other crews fought the fire.
Both workers were successfully removed and transported to Ryder Trauma Center with minor injuries.
A third construction worker, identified by officials as the 47-year-old operator of the drilling rig, jumped from the equipment as it began tipping over. He was also hospitalized with minor injuries.
All 18 workers who had been at the construction site were accounted for following the collapse.
Miami Fire Chief Robert Hevia said the outcome was remarkable given the amount of damage at the scene.
Hevia, who said he has spent 28 years with the fire department, pointed to the burning vehicle, collapsed equipment and heavily damaged construction container while describing how unusual it was for all four people involved to escape with minor injuries.
Witness Christina Larden told local media that she heard a tremendous crash while returning home from an errand. When she went down to the street, she saw a vehicle engulfed in flames, with fire rising high above it.
Images and video from Brickell showed the enormous rig stretched across the roadway, the burned remains of the BMW and emergency crews surrounding the damaged construction area.
The equipment has been described in early reports as a crane, but officials later identified it as a drilling or piling rig, a large piece of machinery used in foundation construction.
The cause of the collapse was not immediately known Monday.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration is expected to investigate the incident. Miami-Dade County Unsafe Structures personnel also responded to the site.
Related Companies, the developer of the planned Citadel headquarters, said it was cooperating with city and county building officials as the site is secured and the incident is investigated.
The company said its priority following the collapse was the safety of workers and the surrounding community and thanked emergency crews for their response.
Brickell Bay Drive was closed between Southeast 12th and Southeast 13th streets as emergency crews worked at the scene and investigators began examining what caused the rig to fall.
Crews also worked to contain a fuel spill associated with the collapse.
Despite the scale of the wreckage, no deaths or life-threatening injuries had been reported as of Monday afternoon.
The investigation remains ongoing.