What led to Deutsche deaths?

A heavy pallet jack fell off the 23-floor of the Deutsche Bank building Thursday just after 2 p.m., injuring two firefighters, one seriously. Both were taken to St. Vincent’s hospital.

Firefighter William Corbetis is in serious condition with head injuries. Firefighter Neil Nally is in stable condition with unspecified injuries. Both are from Engine 258 in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, a Fire Dept. spokesperson said.

The heavy debris fell when a worker “lost control of a pallet jack he was operating,” according to a joint statement by the city’s Buildings and Fire Departments. “The jack traveled through the door of a construction hoist, falling 23 stories. The falling jack landed on the top of a temporary covering, which partially collapsed, injuring two firefighters.”

The injuries come just five days after two firefighters were killed in the building, and two days after the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. assured residents at an emergency meeting that they were proceeding carefully. The F.D.N.Y. is investigating the scene and all other work at the site has been halted.

The L.M.D.C., the building’s owner, sent out an email advisory last night, saying they had directed Bovis Lend Lease, its general contractor, to begin repairing and removing debris on scaffolding in the building. The work was scheduled to begin at 7 a.m. Thursday.

But the city statement said the worker who lost control worked for John Galt Corp., Bovis’s subcontractor. Bovis reportedly moved to drop John Galt yesterday. Both firms have racked up numerous violations dismantling the Deutsche Bank, but John Galt has far less experience. Community Board 1 warned the L.M.D.C. about Galt’s record last year. The New York Times reported Thursday that Bovis declared Galt in default and quoted an anonymous source saying the firm would be fired within the week.

Errol Cockfield, an L.M.D.C. spokesperson, said in a prepared statement Thursday that the pallet “struck a temporary shed in the safety perimeter around the building.” He did not identify which firm was working on the site.

Kate Lindquist, a Dept. of Buildings spokesperson, insisted it was a Galt worker involved in the accident.

A stop work order was issued after last weekend’s fatal fire, but the L.M.D.C. has approval to remove debris and take other action with the intent to make the site safer. That work stopped Thursday after the accident.

Mary Dierecks, also a 125 Cedar St. resident, said she could not see what happened. “We didn’t hear anything other than glass coming down,” she told Downtown Express.

–Josh Rogers