 A construction crane as tall as a skyscraper ripped free from its
moorings yesterday and fell like a tree across a Manhattan block,
destroying buildings, killing at least four people and setting off a
scramble for survivors in the rubble.
Mayor Bloomberg said at least 10 others were injured in what he
called one of New York City's worst construction accidents. The dead
were all believed to be construction workers.
"It is a tragic event," Mr. Bloomberg said, adding, "Our hearts go out to all the victims and their families."
The big, white crane stood at least 19 stories high and had been
attached to the side of a half-built high rise. When it toppled from
its base on the sidewalk, part of it landed on a four-story brownstone,
and turned it into a pile of brick. Three other buildings had parts of
their walls and roofs smashed or torn away.
A delicate rescue operation was under way to find anyone still
buried in the rubble. One man was trapped inside the collapsed
brownstone for 3 1/2 hours before firefighters rescued him.
The Fire Commissioner, Nicholas Scoppetta, said the hunt would
continue all night if necessary, and crews would use search dogs,
thermal-imaging cameras, and listening devices.
He called the work "painstaking," and said rubble was being removed carefully, sometimes by hand, to prevent further collapse.
The 2:20 p.m. accident turned an affluent Manhattan neighborhood
into a disaster area: Cars were overturned and crushed. A huge dust
cloud rose over the neighborhood. Rubble was scattered along the
streets and piled several stories high where the building went down.
A 54-year-old doorman at a high-rise apartment tower across the
street from the construction site, Ben Galati, said he was in the
basement when it happened, and ran for his life when he heard the
structure smash into his building.
"I heard a rumble outside. I said, 'Let's get out of here!' And then
the crane came down. A split second later, I heard an explosion," he
said.
Residents who lived near the site, on 51st Street near Second
Avenue, said they had complained repeatedly in recent months that the
crane appeared precarious.
About 19 of the high-rise condominium building's 43 planned stories
had been erected, and the crane was scheduled to be moved today so
workers could start work on a fresh story when a piece of steel fell
and sheared off one of the ties holding it to the building, according
to an owner of the Reliance Construction Group, which manages
construction at the site, Stephen Kaplan.
"It was an absolute freak accident," Mr. Kaplan said. "All the piece
of steel had to do was fall slightly left or right, and nothing would
have happened."
The owner of a tavern called Fubar located in the crushed
brownstone, John LaGreco, said his employee, Juan Perez, was the man
pulled from the rubble hours after the collapse. He said Mr. Perez
suffered a broken leg, but that all of his employees were accounted
for. The bar was closed at the time of the accident.
"Our bar is done," he said. "The crane crashed the whole building.
If I wasn't watching a Yankees game, I would've come to work early and
gotten killed."
The crane, owned by New York Crane & Equipment Corp., split into
pieces as it fell. Part of it came to rest against an apartment tower
immediately across the street, buckling its facade and smashing it
upper floors. That building and others in the area were evacuated.
Another piece of the crane hit broke off and was flung across the
block, landing on the building that contained Fubar and damaging cars
parked on 50th Street.
Maureen Shea said she was on the phone lying on her bed when she saw
the giant white crane heading straight for her windows, but it missed
her building.
"I heard a big crash, and I saw dust immediately. Bricks were flying
through the air. I saw the whole thing. I thought the crane was coming
in my window," said the 66-year-old retired banker.
Lieutenant Governor David Paterson, who takes over as governor for
disgraced Governor Spitzer on Monday, praised firefighters for taking
"great risks" as they navigated the twisted brick and steel of the
ruins to search for victims.
"Although we lost four lives, there were Herculean efforts to save
three others," said Mr. Paterson, in town to meet with senior staff
members. "It's a horrible situation, very gory. There's blood in the
street," he said.
City Building Department records showed that on March 4, a caller
reported that the upper portions of the crane appeared to lack the
proper number of safety ties attaching it to the building.
A city inspector visited the site and determined on March 6 that no violation was warranted.
Another call questioning the crane's safety was dismissed as unwarranted by another inspector in February.
Mr. Kaplan said the company had subcontracted the work to different
companies and was not in charge of the crane. Phone messages and an
e-mail left for the crane company were not immediately returned.
The the lead partner at East 51st Development Company, which owns
the property, James Kennelly, issued a written statement expressing the
group's dismay over the accident.
"There are no words to describe the level of devastation we feel
today as a result of this tragic event," he said. "Our heart and
prayers are with the families of those who died in this horrible
accident. We are also praying for a full recovery for the individuals
who have been injured today."
City officials said they had issued 13 violations to the site in the
last 27 months, a normal amount for a project of that size. Inspectors
examined the crane Friday and found nothing wrong with it.
The catastrophe comes amid a building boom in New York City and
follows a spate of construction accidents in recent months, including
some involving cranes, though none as massive.
Earlier this year, a crane's nylon sling broke away and dropped
seven tons of steel onto a construction trailer across from ground
zero, injuring an architect. Last month, a worker at a Donald Trump
hotel-condominium tower in SoHo plummeted 40 stories to his death when
a concrete form gave way.
New York Crane was involved in a 2006 mishap, in which a 13-foot
piece of a crane mast that was being dismantled fell into the street
and crushed a taxi cab.(nysun)
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