Coroner identifies victims in house collapse near SC lake
The Pickens County coroner identified two people who died after a structure fell apart following a storm.
Coroner Kandy Kelley said Domingo Diego Nicolas, 22, and Sabino Juarez Lopez, 42, were putting up walls for a house that was under construction near Lake Keowee when building materials fell on top of them.
Nicolas and Lopez were pronounced dead at the scene.
Emergency crews rushed two other people to a hospital after the home on Water Lake Drive in Sunset crumbled.
“Three of the four exterior walls collapsed and they were all pancaked on to each other,” Vineyards Fire Chief Phil Black said, according the Greenville News.
The partial collapse occurred after a powerful thunderstorm with strong winds and lightning blew through the area, Pickens County Emergency Management said on Twitter.
Emergency responders had trouble accessing the site because of trees that were toppled during the storm, a reporter tweeted.
An autopsy will be performed Saturday, Kelley said.
The Pickens County Sheriff’s Office and the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration are investigating.
This story was originally published July 19, 2019 at 9:57 AM.