Atlanta Botanical Garden accident

Metro Atlanta

Atlanta Botanical Garden accident

Photos of a construction accident at the Atlanta Botanical Garden that left 1 dead and injured 18 others.

One worker was killed and 18 others were injured in a major construction accident at the Atlanta Botanical Garden.

Scaffolding for the new Canopy Walk attraction collapsed.

Security officers blocked an entrance to the Atlanta Botanical Garden on Saturday.

Collapsed pieces of a walkway still were visible from outside Piedmont Park.

The garden was closed for the weekend.

Ambulances leave the park.

Construction of the walkway was well under way and was scheduled to open in a few months. Here, crews install the final section of a 600-foot-long, 45-foot-tall skywalk in mid-November. It is part of the garden's $50 million expansion.

The garden was scheduled to reopen Monday.

When completed, the concrete walkway, seen in this November photo, will be 11 feet wide and held above the ground by steel cables and masts.

Workers wearing hard hats meet near the scene of the accident.

Workers J.T. Norris and Michael Brown guide a section into place in November. It slipped in perfectly, with a tolerance of an 1/8 inch.

When finished in spring 2009, the walkway will allow visitors to walk among the trees.

A portion of the Canopy Walk in the area where the collapse occurred.

A man walks his dogs along Piedmont Avenue as he looks as the fallen skywalk.

A police officer stands guard over the portion of the structure in the area where the collapse occurred.

Firefighters work at the accident scene.

Roberto Bautista (left) and Rodigo Escamillia said they heard the collapse but escaped safely.

This 2006 graphic shows some of the improvements slated for the botanical garden, including the Canopy Walk.

Atlanta Fire Rescue chaplain Thomas Houston gives a pat on the back to Atlanta Fire Rescue battalion chief Ken Byers.

Constructions workers talk on their phones and to each other in front of the garden.

The botanical garden's executive director said it "will donate all admission proceeds and contributions from its members and visitors to a fund that will directly benefit those impacted by this tragedy."

Fire trucks line up along Piedmont Avenue outside the the Atlanta Botanical Garden as police direct traffic.

Hardin Construction President Bill Pinto (from left), PR representative Barkley Russell and Atlanta Botanical Garden PR representative Danny Flanders walk across Piedmont.

Emmakate Young, who lives nearby, heard the collapse and saw workers running. "It sounded like when they are doing construction on a building and they throw garbage off the top," she said. "It was like ... they were dumping huge material off a building and it echoed in a Dumpster. It lasted for about 15 seconds."

Firefighters wait in their truck as a remaining portion of the skywalk is visible in the background.

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One worker was killed and 18 others were injured in a major construction accident at the Atlanta Botanical Garden.

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