18-year-old Chestnut Hill resident aids those trapped from building collapse

A collapsed building on 22nd and Market Streets in Center City on Wednesday morning has left at least six people dead.

18-year-old Chestnut Hill resident Jordan McLaughlin was passing by the demolition site when the accident occured and jumped in to aid rescue efforts in the immediate aftermath of the incident.

 

In the short time between the building’s collapse onto the Salvation Army thrift store next door to it and the arrival of emergency responders, passers-by stepped up to help those trapped under the rubble of the building.

“They were in pretty poor condition – broken arms, bruised, they couldn’t walk. We had to help carry them out. We had to pull them out. They couldn’t push up or anything or crawl out,” said McLaughlin of the moments directly after the collapse.

“We found four or five people right away and then the first responders came in,” said McLaughlin.

“There was people that had their arm stuck between a wall and the building collapsing,” he said.

McLaughlin added he knew the collapse could not have been intentional — he had just seen shoppers enter the Salvation Army thrift store when it happened. 

McLaughlin is graduating from Science Leadership Academy this year and will be a first-year student at Drexel University’s College of Engineering in the fall, according to University officials. 

WHYY reporter Elizabeth Fiedler contributed to this report.