Boylston Street tragedy
Heroes save mason stranded on ledge Fate’s whims forever a mystery: Peter Gelzinis column (04/04/2006) Emerson dorms now linked with tragedy 3 lives meet untimely end No rules in place requiring inspections for platform equipment Survivor: One second saved my family Family narrowly escapes: Boston’s WB56 Deadly collapse: Boston’s WB56 Firms cited by OSHA Three killed in downtown scaffolding collapse

    The lift-platform snapped around 1:20 p.m., sending construction workers to their deaths from the roof of a Boylston Street building. The massive piece of equipment crashed down onto a Honda Civic idling in traffic, crushing the car and killing Dr. Michael Ty. Another victim suffered a broken femur while a fifth person was hospitalized for stress, fire officials said.
 

    Ty, 28, of Roslindale was a neurology resident at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. He graduated from Harvard Medical School in 2004, the same year he married his wife, Robin.
 

    One of the dead construction workers was Robert E. Beane, 41, a supervisor and member of the Local 22 Laborers union who was recalled by co-workers as a hard worker and a sports nut.
 

    “He was fearless, which in this racket, it’s a good thing and it’s a bad thing,” said co-worker Jack Johnson of Whitman.
 

    The second worker, Romilda Silva, 27, was also a Local 22 member who was recently married. “It’s just a tough time,” one Local 22 official said last night. “We’re trying to get through it. We feel really bad for all the families involved.”
 

    The tragedy shattered the calm of a quiet spring day when many Bostonians were fixated on the warm weather and opening day for the Red Sox. With a terrifying rumble, the platform tore down pieces of scaffolding - raining metal, wood and bricks onto unsuspecting motorists below, witnesses said.
 

    “All of a sudden we hear this crash and saw all this debris just hit the road. It just flattened a car in front of us,” said George Netherton, whose vehicle was damaged. “We were just kind of stunned.”
 

    A third worker had leapt from the platform as it hurtled toward the ground below and dangled on a ledge until co-workers cut through a concrete wall and pulled him to safety.  

The laborers were working for Bostonian Masonry, a company with a history of federal safety violations working on a new Emerson College dormitory.
 

    “It’s a sad day for us and Emerson,” said John Macomber, chief executive of Macomber Builders, which is building the new dorm.
 

    Several agencies are probing the deadly accident including Boston police, the city’s Inspectional Services Department, the state Department of Public Safety and the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
 

    John Hynes, grandson of former Boston Mayor John Hynes and son of WB anchor Jack Hynes, cheated death on his way to a meeting when debris shatterd windows and dented the roof of his black BMW.
 

    “It sounded like an implosion,” Hynes said. “I’m feeling pretty lucky with just a couple scrapes.”
 

    James White, a 39-year-old Dorchester technician, said he tried to help injured people after he saw the platform collapse and his SUV was struck by falling metal.
 

    “Both people I saw weren’t talking,” he said somberly.
 

    Netherton, who was visiting from Georgia to help his daughter, Kate, pick out a wedding dress, said the tragedy proves that “life is fragile.”
 

    “If we were 10 seconds up the road, it could have been us,” he said. “I feel terrible. They probably don’t know what hit them.”