Woman dies after fall from roof of South Boston building

By John M. Guilfoil, Globe Staff

A woman in her early 20s died tonight after falling nearly five stories through a skylight in a South Boston building, police and fire officials said.

A friend of the woman’s called 911 at about 8:30 p.m., saying they had been on a roof when the woman fell. But the friend did not remember exactly where on the roof they were standing or which shaft the woman fell through, said acting Deputy Fire Chief Ronald Marston.

The Boston Fire Department began a frantic rescue operation, involving dozens of fire and Boston Emergency Medical Services officials on the roof, in the basement, and on several floors of connected buildings on Summer and A streets, but it took more than an hour to locate her.

“It took a while. The person that was with the victim wasn’t sure where the shaft was located when we first arrived,” Marston said. “We were checking the next building until we finally located it and located the shaft, and we found out it was a blind shaft and we started to breach the walls before we finally reached her.”

The woman had fallen from the seventh story roof through a blind shaft, landing on the third floor of 281 Summer St., said Steve MacDonald, a Fire Fepartment spokesman. Rescuers had to cut several holes in walls as they tried to find her.

The woman, whose name was not released, was pronounced dead at the scene by EMS.

The roofline has several connected buildings and is pockmarked with shafts, utilities, and skylights MacDonald said. There is no roof deck or communal space on the roof.

“The roof was pitch black,” MacDonald said. “It’s not the kind of roof that you go on to get a good view.”

Two of the friends who were with the victim had to be taken away in an ambulance after the woman’s body was found.

The Boston Police Department is investigating the woman’s death. Police did not say how the group had gotten on the roof or why they were there.

“Everything from how they got on the roof to how the female fell through the shaft is all under investigation,” said Deputy Superintendent Alfredo Andres at the scene.