Officials: One dead after roof collapse at Syosset construction site

A construction worker was killed on Thursday after the roof of a building under construction for the Jericho Water District collapsed, crushing him against a concrete wall, Nassau Police said.

Shortly before 9 a.m., firefighters responded to 66 Stillwell Lane in Syosset for a report of two workers trapped on a roof, officials said. The construction workers were on scaffolding 30-feet in the air when "the roofing structure began to collapse," Nassau Police said in a news release.

One of the two workers, a 24-year male, suffered a facial laceration and was treated at a hospital and released, police said. Rescue crews worked for 6 ½ hours before they could pull the other victim, a 49-year-old male, from the roof wreckage.

That worker, identified by his wife as Donaldo Duque, of Roosevelt Avenue in Queens, was pronounced dead at the scene, according to Nassau Police.

Clara Reyes said her husband had been working on the building for several days.

Through a Spanish-language translator, Reyes said one of the pieces fell from the roof and "plastered him against the wall."

Reyes, holding back tears at the accident site Thursday afternoon, said she was in "shock."

Her husband was a "really great person," she said.

Contractors from Philip Ross Industries in Melville were working on "a block building with wooden roof trusses" at the site when the roof collapsed, said Peter Logan, superintendent for the Jericho Water District, which owns the building under construction. Logan said it was unclear how many workers were on site at the time of the collapse.

He said construction on two buildings began about a year and a half ago. The new structures are being built to house equipment and containment vessels for the district's water treatment plant — needed to remove the pollutant 1,4-dioxane from the water supply.

"This general contractor has done plenty of work for the district and has always been very safe," Logan said. "It's very unfortunate."

Public records show the nearly 40-year-old Philip Ross Industries has no violations with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration but has been subject to at least one lawsuit from a worker who was injured on the job.

In 2021, the State Department of Public Service fined the company $1,000 related to its work at a National Grid project site on Tobie Lane in Jericho, public records show.

A message left at Philip Ross Industries on Thursday was not immediately returned.

The accident is being investigated by Nassau County police.

With Howard Schnapp