One killed as crane collapses on to parked cars in Manhattan street

This comes as police confirmed he was crushed to death by the crane as he stepped out of his parked auto.

The mobile crane’s boom landed across an intersection, smashed several vehicle roofs and stretched much of a block after the accident around 8:25 a.m.at a historic building about 10 blocks north of the World Trade Center. EMS transported a 45-year-old woman with leg injury and head laceration to Beekman Hospital and a 73-year-old man with a head laceration was taken to Bellevue Hospital, police said.

While there was no indication or suggestion in the briefing that the operator may have been impaired Friday, the same person said de Blasio urged officials to “go the distance” in being certain.

One person suffered a minor injury, another had a moderate injury, and one had a serious injury, according to the mayor’s office.

De Blasio said pedestrians were cleared from the streets before workers began to lower the crane, averting a potentially greater calamity during the morning rush. It is called a crawler crane because it has a moveable base. The crane was being used to replace generators and air conditioners on the roof of 60 Hudson Street, which had been, at one time, the Western Union building.

“Thankfully there was only one person inside one of the cars”. Their condition was unknown. Overnight, the crane’s boom was extended more than 500 feet.

“The fact is this is a very, very sad incident. Our building rattled… shook”, he said. “Somehow, they left the crane all the way up and last night when we came by, the top of the crane was already sideways”.

“People were just running down the street”, said Kuvanya Pillay, who was stuck in the salon with the bride-to-be and their mother for two hours after the street was shut down. Crews were working to contain the leak.

The collapse happened along West Broadway early on Friday morning (local time) in the Tribeca neighbourhood.

“We saw that the crane was a little bent and it was still all the way up in the sky”. It also fueled new safety measures for crane projects, such as the hiring of more inspectors and the expansion of inspection checklists. A person answering the phone at the office of Bay Crane in the borough of Queens would not discuss the accident or confirm that the crane belonged to the company. Another 53 taller “tower cranes” are also being operated in the city. It had a capacity to lift 330 tons of material.

After the accident, the city ordered that the 419 construction cranes around the city be secured as a precaution.