At Least One Dead In New York City Crane Collapse

One person sitting in a parked vehicle was killed and three people were injured Friday when a huge construction crane collapsed in lower Manhattan as workers tried to lower and secure it against rising winds, Mayor Bill de Blasio said.

Operators of the crane that collapsed Friday in Tribeca chose to extend it to its full length during the same week where wind gusts topped 30 miles per hour, officials investigating the cause of the catastrophe said.

It was still unclear why the 565-foot (170-meter) crane fell, De Blasio said, explaining that a crew “had inspected the crane yesterday”. Because the crane was being lowered, workers were directing pedestrians away from it on a street that otherwise would likely have been teeming with people. It flipped upside down and stretched almost two city blocks. You get sort of used to seeing cranes around different buildings and then all of a sudden one falls and somebody dies and people get hurt. Robert Harold says he also saw a person lying motionless body in the street.

TMZ has video of the NY crane collapse accident posted here.

The downed crane, which filled the street, fell onto numerous parked cars. Crain’s Business noted in an article on New York City construction deaths last year that “a review of city records shows that construction sites are less safe today than they were seven years ago, when the pace of building was on par with the current booming market”.

Inspectors found no problems with the crane, but Chandler said, “Obviously, it requires investigation in terms of the way this was done”. But city officials said it could have been much worse.

However, Comptroller Scott Stringer said in a 2014 audit that the city Department of Buildings hadn’t fully implemented safety recommendations on cranes and other issues, and Stringer reiterated his concerns Friday.

The crane had been working at the structure, the former Western Union building, a New York City landmark, since January 30.

“I started to see debris falling from the building in front of me”, explained Natale in an interview with TAP into.

Residents were evacuated from several buildings for fear of a possible gas leak at the crash site, the mayor said. Zito and two other workers were asked to come down from the upper floors because of the wind and were making their way down when they stopped to watch the crane being lowered.

According to Mayor de Blasio, today’s crane collapse is the first of its kind in the city since 2008, which was a particularly tragic year for crane incidents.

A representative for the New York City Department of Buildings could not be reached immediately for comment.

The accident occurred near 40 Worth Street in TriBeCa. One person was reported to be trapped in a auto.