Editor's Note: This story was updated February 5, 2024, with additional details about one of the victims and a response from Big D Builders.
A steel hangar being built at the Boise Airport in Idaho collapsed January 31, killing three people and injuring nine.
Five of the injured were in critical condition at a local hospital, according to Boise Fire Department officials.
The three killed in the incident were identified as Craig Durrant, 59; Mariano Coc Och, 24; and Mario Sontay Tzi, 32, according to the Ada County Coroner.
“Tonight, there was a catastrophic collapse of a metal structure at a construction site,” said Boise Fire Division Chief of Operations Aaron Hummel. “First responders found a hectic scene and worked to secure and rescue victims.”
There were about 30 people working at the site. Some were on an aerial work platform and had to be rescued.
Big D Builders of Meridian, Idaho, is the contractor on the $6 million project to build a 39,000-square-foot hangar for private charter flight and maintenance company Jackson Jet Center.
Inland Crane, which had been hired for assistance in erecting the hangar, had a crane on site that was placing a steel truss. When the hangar collapsed, the impact caused the crane’s boom to break, according to a statement from Inland Vice President Jeremy Haener.
Haener attributed the collapse to an “unknown structural failure.”
“Based on accounts of Inland Crane operators, construction workers on site, and the steel erecting contractor, we believe that no action by Inland Crane operators or the crane itself were cause for the structural failure,” Haener said.
News photos and video from the scene show bolts connecting the steel beams to the concrete base had come out. The hangar’s roof beams appeared to have collapsed at the center.
The Fire Department has turned over the investigation to the U.S. Occupational Safety & Health Administration.
According to OSHA records, Big D Builders was fined $4,314.80 for workers exposed to 33-foot fall hazards on June 22, 2022. It was fined again $21,875 for exposing workers to 25-foot fall hazards on or before January 5, 2023.
According to its website, Big D Builders has been in business since 1964. It is a design/build contractor with 22 full-time employees. It also performs pre-engineered steel buildings and installation.
One of the company's founders Craig Durrant, who was the brother of company owner Denis Durrant, was one of the three who died in the hangar accident. The company released a statement to media, according to the Idaho Statesman:
“Words cannot describe our pain and sorrow since Wednesday evening. We have lost family members and valued employees who were close personal friends. We have also had colleagues experience significant injuries. Behind our company name is a small, Idaho-grown, family-owned business, and we are grieving deeply with our community.”
