IOWA CITY, Iowa - A construction worker died Monday during an accident near a flood-damaged University of Iowa art building, the school said.

The worker, Kevin Dean Hammons, 52, of Washington, was pronounced dead at the scene after becoming pinned beneath a beam along the shore of a pond near Art Building West, UI spokesman Tom Moore said. He said Hammons was employed by a private contractor.

"The University extends its heartfelt condolences to the worker's family, friends and community," Moore said in a statement.

Moore issued his statement expressing "great sadness" after rescuers from the Iowa City Fire Department spent several hours on the scene Monday morning trying to free the worker.

The art building has been closed since 2008, when flood waters from the Iowa River ravaged the campus and forced the evacuation and closure of 20 major buildings. The art campus was among the hardest hit, and total campus damage has been pegged at $743 million and rising.

Workers are in the process of repairing that building so half of the art school, which has relocated to a former big box store three miles off campus, can move back in next year. Part of the project involves constructing a removable 12-foot wall that can be assembled when the river rises to protect against future floods.

Iowa City-based McComas-Lacina Construction started work on the project last year, and was expected to finish in October, according to a university timeline. The firm beat out several others for the project with a $2.8 million bid.

Mike Hahn, president of McComas-Lacina, said the male worker was employed by Iowa Bridge and Culvert of Washington, Iowa. He said his firm hired the bridge company as a subcontractor to install a pumping station that would work in conjunction with the wall and keep water out of the building. A woman answering the phone at Iowa Bridge said the company would not have any comment.

Hahn said his company's employees were working inside the building but none of them saw what happened, and his safety director is investigating.

Rod Lehnertz, UI's director of planning, design and construction, said in an interview earlier this month the project is important symbolically for the university. When the art building reopens next year, it will mark the first building that was closed because of the flood to fully reopen, he said. The building had just opened in 2006 and won several awards for its design.

Because of its architectural acclaim, the Federal Emergency Management Agency designated the building eligible for historic consideration, which has sped up the recovery work, Lehnertz said. FEMA might normally want a wall to be built to protect a flood-prone building, but in this case that would have ruined the architecture, he said. The 12-foot "invisible wall" would be assembled to keep water out when the river's level starts rising, he said.

Monday's death marks the second time in recent months that a contract employee has died during a University of Iowa construction project. An employee of a Clive-based glass firm died in September after falling an estimated 40 feet off a ladder while performing work on windows at the Boyd Law Building. State safety regulators have proposed an $8,750 fine against the company for failing to train its workers on the safe use of ladders and related violations.