Nine People Killed in Two NY Crane Accidents in 2008
Monday, June 02, 2008
A New York City crane accident that took plane on May 30, 2008 has city officials up in arms, as the Manhattan district attorney announced the launch a criminal investigation into the latest crane collapse that killed two construction workers and seriously injured a third.On June 1, 2008, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said that the latest accident was unrelated to a March crane collapse that killed seven people. "It would appear that there is no connection whatsoever between the two accidents," Bloomberg said. "They're very different things."
He said city prosecutors and building inspectors were investigating the May 30, 2008 collapse. Based on an initial inquiry, "it would appear that they had all permits in place and that they had been inspected just two days before," Bloomberg said.
The mayor said that residents evacuated from buildings near the collapse had returned to their homes, and that others who lived in the apartment building struck by the crane should be back by the middle of the week.
In the most recent accident, a crane on the Upper East Side snapped from its turntable about 200 feet above the street, causing its cab, boom and machine deck to fall and crash into the apartment building, authorities said.
It followed a March 15 accident in which a steel collar being installed around a crane fell, striking another collar below it and causing the crane to crash into a building. A town house was leveled in the collapse.
After the recent crane accident, all crane operations in the city were suspended until June 2, 2008, and four cranes similar to the one that collapsed on May 30, 2008 are out of commission indefinitely pending an investigation.
Two workers were killed in the crane accident on May 30, 2008 and a third remained hospitalized in serious condition with a chest injury.
Posted in Accidents & Personal Injury