April 13, 2026
Chris Lachall/Imagn Images
The bodies of two ironworkers who had been missing since CHOP's parking garage in Gray's Ferry collapsed were recovered early Monday, city officials say. Above, the garage after its collapse on Wednesday.
The bodies of the two ironworkers who were missing following last week's parking garage collapse in Grays Ferry were recovered early Monday morning, city officials said.
A controlled demolition of the parking garage began over the weekend, with recovery operations resuming at 9 p.m. Sunday. The bodies of the workers, who were presumed dead late last week, will be officially identified following an examination by the Philadelphia Department of Public Health and the Medical Examiner's Office.
MORE: One man dead, two missing after CHOP parking garage partially collapses in Grays Ferry
Mayor Cherelle Parker's did not release the names of the workers Monday, but the Philadelphia Ironworkers Union Local 401 identified them Saturday in a social media post as Matthew Kane and Mark Scott Jr., the Inquirer reported. The post also identified the ironworker who died in the hospital on the day of the collapse as Stepan Shevchuk. Their names have since been removed from the post. Shevchuk and two others were pulled from the debris in the immediate aftermath of the collapse.
City officials now are turning their focus to investigating the cause of the collapse. Roads around the site, at 3400 Grays Ferry Ave., will remain closed while that's underway.
The seven-story garage was being built by the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia to provide employee parking. It collapsed at 2:17 p.m. Wednesday when a precast concrete roof segment failed, falling through every level of the stairwell tower. The instability of the structure slowed the recovery process.
Over a dozen city, state, nonprofit, labor and other partners worked with the Philadelphia police and fire departments as well as the Office of Emergency Management to stabilize the site and to help nearby residents and businesses.
"This has been a heartbreaking tragedy for our city, especially for the families of the workers we lost," Parker said in a statement. "Throughout this response, our priorities were dignity for the victims, safety for our crews, and support for the surrounding community. We are grateful to every responder, agency partner, and neighbor who came together in a difficult moment."
Parker signed an executive order directing the city solicitor and the law department to conduct an investigation into the collapse and make recommendations for inspecting, monitoring and licensing future projects. The order says the city must retain an independent consultant and additional experts to find a cause for the collapse and publicly release a report within 180 days. Following the report's release, the city must then institute a special committee to review the report's findings.
In honor of the three people who died in the collapse, flags on city buildings will fly at half-staff from now until sunset Friday.
City agencies have held a food drive for nearby residents, because the collapse temporarily closed a nearby supermarket.
