3 people dead, 1 injured in partial building collapse in Houston

Three people died and one person was injured after the partial collapse of a 15-story building in Houston on Monday, officials said.The Houston Fire Department said a rescue team was responding to the incident, which occurred west of downtown Houston on Monday afternoon.The department said the injured person was in stable condition and taken to a local hospital.Houston Public Works listed the site's address as 990 Town and Country Blvd. in the City Centre section. A department spokeswoman said a new construction permit for the office tower was issued in November and regular inspections were previously scheduled for Monday.The spokeswoman, Alanna Reed, said an inspector was headed to the site to confirm a temporary staircase — and not the building itself — had collapsed.MLN Company, the firm that had the construction permit, is a subcontractor on the project and its safety director, Kim Hutchinson, had no additional details.A worker who was at the site told KPRC that he heard a loud banging sound, then saw a “bunch of smoke.”Additional details about the victims or the cause of the collapse were not immediately available.