HAMMOND | Seven men became heroes in the eyes of their fellow workers Tuesday when a walkway collapsed at Hammond's Horseshoe Casino and their actions prevented a disaster, the job steward said.

Buck Stevens, of Hobart, has been an ironworker for 43 years, but Tuesday was a workday he'll never forget. And he doesn't want to forget the fear he felt when he heard the noise of the shoring under the walkway collapsing, the adrenaline surge during the rescue effort or the shared elation at the event's outcome.

"Those five to 10 minutes seemed like an eternity," Stevens said. "I didn't know if there were workers trapped under there. I didn't know if my son was under there. I was certain all the men had been crushed."

Stevens is the brother of Ron Stevens, the owner of DeMotte-based Stevens Ironworks, the subcontractor positioning the walkways in place between the casino and pavilion. The company employs Buck Stevens, his son, his two nephews who are the owner's sons and many of his friends. All are members of Iron Workers Local 395.

"We're family," Buck Stevens said.

The enclosed walkway and a sister structure were sitting on barges and being pushed into place when the shoring underneath one collapsed, sending six ironworkers and two pipefitters into Lake Michigan, slightly injuring one. The walkways will connect the new $500 million casino boat to the Horseshoe pavilion.

The workers on Wednesday still were "a little shook up," said Andy Thomas, an ironworker forced off the barge into the lake Tuesday morning.

"We just went back to work. We're ironworkers and we know there's a chance for accidents, but we try to do the best we can not to have them," Thomas said.

Crews on Wednesday started salvaging steel from the walkway, a process that should wrap up today, Thomas said. Thomas, of Hobart, said the replacement walkway will be set into place differently, with part of the walkway over solid ground.

"We're cutting the barge out of the picture," Thomas said.

When the collapse started Tuesday, Buck Stevens reacted quickly.

"Once I started hearing the crackling noise of the shoring collapsing -- it was a matter of seconds -- you knew you had to do something," Stevens said. "I was on the casino side. I ran to the other side and then back to check the men who were in two different barges. I yelled for the men to call the ambulance, the fire department."

"The six guys on the other barge jumped in to help, and the guy in the safety boat pulled some out," he said. "I and another guy got (a very thick electric line) to lower ourselves to the water."

The Hammond Fire Department arrived as the last man was coming out of the water, Stevens said, adding that the department's response was terrific.

"I had all the iron workers make sure everyone was accounted for," he said. "There was a lot of emotion going on in the heat of those moments. It makes you proud to be part of the Iron Workers organization. Everyone worked together. No one worried about themselves. ... When everyone was accounted for we said a little prayer."

All of the 14 workers who entered the water were back on the job at 7 a.m. Wednesday. But before the men returned to work, they bowed their heads and said another prayer, Stevens said. And praying isn't something you would normally see iron workers doing together, he said.

"We know someone up there was looking out for us," he said Wednesday. "Everyone is overly elated that no one was injured badly or killed."

The job to complete the casino by its Aug. 8 opening date was actually "back in full swing" by late Tuesday afternoon, said Mike Summers, president and business agent for Iron Workers Local 395.

"We were actually working last night," Summers said.

Chicago-based Pepper Management, the general contractor for the project, had a 500-ton crane on-site by late Tuesday to aid in moving the walkway back into position, he said.

-- Times staff writer Dan Hinkel contributed to this report.