(Daniel Kovach/KUTV photo)

Emergency responders are working to clear the area of an accident after a drill rig at a construction site in downtown Salt Lake City, Utah, collapsed onto cars on State Street.

The incident happened on March 15 just after 9 p.m. at the Astra Tower construction site (200 South State St.). The operator sustained injuries, according to reports.

Jacobsen Construction released a statement on the drill rig collapse:

"We are concerned by this incident and our top priority is attending to the wellbeing of our subcontracting drilling rig operator with the Morris-Shea Bridge Co. who was working on foundation drilling.

"We have activated our response teams, which are trained and prepared for circumstances like this. They are working with first responders to address the situation. We don't yet have all the details of how this occurred and will continue to gather information and/or investigate. Our initial information is that the only injury is to our drill rig operator. Medical response teams arrived on scene to provide aid. Company leaders with our drill rig subcontractor on this project, Morris-Shea Bridge Co., informed us that the equipment operator was taken to the hospital and reporting pain in their shoulder and leg, not that he was in critical condition, as was reported in some earlier breaking news broadcasts.

"We can also confirm that some unoccupied parked cars were impacted when the drill rig fell, with no injuries to anyone besides the drill rig operator. We are cooperating with authorities and doing everything we can to address the situation with the impact to those who are traveling on the impacted street. The equipment that fell into two southbound lanes of traffic on State Street will remain in place overnight, leading to traffic being diverted for the evening.

"The Astra Tower project team has been proactive in planning and providing ongoing training to help our workers to be as safe as possible as well as to be prepared to respond quickly and effectively in the event of an incident like this. We are thorough in our planning, training, inspection and operation of rigs and cranes.

"Because downtown construction involves complex and sometimes delicate work, safety standards our company's safety standards are more stringent than those set forth by most local, state and federal agencies as well as other construction companies. All of the professionals who work on our sites are family, and their safety and wellbeing are our top priority. We are committed to learning as much about what caused this and taking proactive steps to ensure the continued safety at this project site.

"We will provide more details as they become available."

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