The remains of two construction workers trapped in the wreckage of the collapsed Hard Rock Hotel since last October may be reached as soon as the end of this week or early next week,New Orleans Fire Superintendent Tim McConnell said Monday.

McConnell said the recovery phase of the demolition has begun after a collapsed tower crane was removed on Saturday, which he called a "significant" step in the long-delayed operation to remove a downtown eyesore and give comfort to two families.

Workers could already be seen Monday beginning the first step of the recovery operation, removing construction materials like generators from the building. That will allow teams to begin "methodically" removing sections of the collapsed structure, McConnell said.

Workers are lifted off of the roof of the partially collapsed Hard Rock building after removing construction equipment to start with the recovery portion of the demolition, according to New Orleans Fire Superintendent Tim McConnell in New Orleans, La. Monday, July 13, 2020.

Recovering the remains of the two victims is "going to take a little bit of time," McConnell said, saying that workers might not reach them until the end of this week or the beginning of next week. Then recovery teams will need time to actually remove the bodies, he said.

"You will hear me be very, very careful about how long it takes, the actual recovery ... when you reach remains," he said.

That timeline could change, though, if something unplanned, like another collapse, occurs.

Three workers died in the Oct. 12 collapse of the construction site. One body has been recovered, but the bodies of Quinnyon Wimberly and Jose Ponce Arreola remain trapped inside.

Workers will attempt to reach the body of Wimberly first, according to McConnell. Officials believe it's trapped on the 11th floor of the building on the side closer to Iberville Street. As long as the process of removing debris doesn't dislodge the body, recovering his remains could be completed quickly.

However, searchers have never put eyes on the body of Ponce, which they believe is trapped under rubble on the 8th floor "transfer deck" between the base of the structure and the floors above.

New Orleans Fire Superintendent Tim McConnell updates the media on efforts to recover the bodies of two construction workers who were trapped inside the Hard Rock Hotel when it collapsed in October in New Orleans, La. Monday, July 13, 2020.

"We dont know the condition," McConnell said. "If you get there and the remains arent all easily recovered in single location, youre then going to have a much more tedious process."

McConnell said that in that scenario, the process of recovering Ponce's body could be similar to the extensive effort required to recover the remains trapped under the World Trade Center after the September 11, 2001 attacks. Search dogs and forensic anthropologists are on standby to assist if necessary, McConnell said.

Before the demolition process began last month, the city and the hotel's developers were locked in a months-long dispute over the best way to take down the 18-story construction site and surrounding historic buildings nearthe intersection of North Rampart Street and Canal Street.

The fact that two bodies were trapped inside the site has complicated demolition efforts and led to public outrage about the sluggish pace of the process.

In a statement, City Councilwoman-at-large Helena Moreno said she was glad that recovery is going forward.

"This tragedy should never have happened, and it has taken far too long to be able to deliver dignity to these men who unfairly perished due to the terrible mistakes and misdeeds of others," she said.

McConnell said that now that demolition has finally begun, contractors for the developer, 1031 Canal Development, are sticking roughly to a written schedule they provided to the city. That's despite 10 days of rain and obstacles, like the need to tie down debris that could fall from the building, he said.

The wreckage of the Hard Rock Hotel in New Orleans will be imploded after all, after developers agreed to city demands to bring down the partially collapsed building quickly, photographed Friday, Jan. 17, 2020.

Crews worked through extreme heat on Saturday to remove a crane that's been draped over the Canal Street side of the building since a dramatic implosion operation on Oct. 20, which was designed to mitigate the risk of a complete collapse.

The temperatures spiked so much that workers in a crane brought in to assist the effort were ordered to come down. They insisted they could continue as long as they got more water.

"Those guys stayed in that bucket," McConnell said. "They wanted to get it done."

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Victim recovery phase to begin at Hard Rock hotel after 'significant' progress during weekend - NOLA.com