WASHINGTON — A building in the early stages of construction four blocks from the White House collapsed Monday night. Three construction trailers and a van, parked on the sidewalk or in the street, tumbled into the excavation site at 14th and H streets northwest as ground at the site caved in, fire officials said.
They said the apparent cause was vibrations from a faulty transformer, whose spectacular arcing could be seen for blocks.
The noisy collapse forced workers to evacuate from United Press International World Headquarters next door and from other nearby office buildings.
