Man killed when house collapses near Branson

BRANSON, Mo. -- A man was killed and five workers were buried in debris Thursday afternoon when a house that was under construction collapsed, authorities said. The home was one of several moved from downtown Branson to outside the city. Construction workers were working on the foundation when the second story collapsed on them, said Jim Single, an fire assistant chief.

Single said the man who was killed was not a construction worker. A worker told firefighters that the man who died had stopped at the two-story home to visit one of the workers.

Four workers managed to dig themselves out of the debris before emergency workers arrived at the home, about a mile east of Branson, said Kevin Tweedy, operations manager for the Taney County Ambulance District.

It took rescuers about 20 minutes to remove one of the remaining trapped workers, who was transported to a hospital in serious condition, Tweedy said. Three other workers were taken to a Branson hospital with minor injuries, Tweedy said.

Tweedy said the acquaintance of the construction workers was dead when rescuers got to him.

Neither the names of the victims nor the company that employed them was immediately available.