KANSAS CITY — 1981 · Major Tragedy
The Hyatt Regency Walkway Collapse
On the evening of 17 July 1981 more than 1,600 people had gathered for a tea dance in the lobby of the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Kansas City. At about 7.05 p.m. the fourth-floor walkway, crowded with spectators, fell onto the second-floor walkway and both crashed into the crowd below. 114 people died and 216 were injured. Investigators found that a design change made during construction had doubled the load on a key connection, and that the walkway would have failed under a third of the weight it carried that night. The engineering firm lost its licences for gross negligence but was acquitted of criminal charges. The disaster became a core case in engineering ethics.
- Date
- 1981
- Place
- Crown Center, Missouri, USA, Kansas City, US
- Category
- Major Tragedy
- Case Status
- Closed
- Coordinates
- 39.0846, -94.5800 ↗
Timeline of Events
- 1980The hotel opened after a fast-tracked construction process.
- 17 July 1981Two walkways collapsed onto the lobby crowd; 114 died.
- 1982The Kansas City Star won a Pulitzer Prize for its 16-month investigation of the collapse.
- 1983Local authorities declared the rebuilt hotel safe.
Sources
- KSHB — Hyatt Regency skywalk collapse: 40 years later kshb.com ↗
- KCTV5 — Remembering Kansas City's deadliest disaster kctv5.com ↗
- Wikipedia — Hyatt Regency walkway collapse en.wikipedia.org ↗
- KSHB
- KCTV5
- Wikipedia
Source grade A: several independent sources, at least one an official record or reference work. If you spot a mistake or something missing, report it with "Suggest a correction" in the app.
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🕯️ This record was prepared with respect, in memory of those who lost their lives.