‘Thank god I’m alive’: Taxi driver describes harrowing moments outside South Station

BOSTON — A taxi driver is describing the harrowing moments outside South Station after a steel beam dropped down more than twenty stories.

Witnesses say a piece of construction equipment crashed onto Atlantic Avenue around the same time Wednesday afternoon.

Surveillance video from across the street shows the construction equipment narrowly missing a moving van and landing near a cab stand.

Wilky Bonheur told Boston 25 News that he crouched down in his taxi fearing more debris could come raining down.

“For me, I thought everything was collapsing,” said Bonheur. “It came like, boom, boom, boom, all the way down from the top.”

The construction equipment left a large divot in the concrete steps away from Bonheur’s taxi.

“Thank god I’m alive,” he said.

The plummeting steel beam from the under-construction South Station Tower project smashed two windows on the way down and stopped on the ninth floor.

The beam would’ve dropped down on a walkway to the commuter rail platform.

Luckily, it got lodged in a concrete deck which prevented it from continuing.

“I saw the two beams sitting there, and I’m like, that could’ve killed a lot of people yesterday,” said Matthew Van Winkle. “Fortunately, that balcony caught it.”

Van Winkle was leaving the food court at South Station to head toward the pedestrian walkway when the accident happened.

“I called my wife, and I said, I just want to let you know that I skirted death today!,” he recalled. “I’m still alive, so don’t worry.”

The construction site remains shut down until further notice as OSHA and the Boston Inspectional Services Department investigates.

“I’d definitely be more concerned about what’s the solution so it doesn’t happen again,” said Maryann Benevento.

Boston 25 News received the following statement from Suffolk Construction, the general contractor of the project:

An incident occurred on the South Station Tower project site today. It appears a piece of form work fell from an upper level of the structure and landed in an exclusion zone on the ninth floor that was cordoned off and not accessible to the workers. No one was injured. The safety of our workers and communities is our number one priority, so we are currently investigating the cause of the incident.

—  Suffolk Construction

Boston 25 News also received the following statement from the MBTA:

With public safety of paramount importance to the MBTA, MBTA General Manager Eng spoke with the construction company this morning. As a result of yesterday’s incident, the MBTA notified the private Developer that this incident interfered with the T’s transportation operations and posed a risk to public safety. The MBTA ordered work to immediately stop on the Project following the Incident. The MBTA also notified the Developer to take a number of safety actions in accordance with its agreement with the MBTA. The MBTA also notified that Developer that they are responsible to reimburse the MBTA for all costs related to yesterday’s incident.

—  MBTA

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