March 17, 2008

New York City construction crane topples, killing seven

NEW YORK

Officials in New York say the last of seven bodies has been pulled from the rubble at the site of a crane collapse in Manhattan.

Six construction workers and a woman in town for St. Patrick's Day were killed Saturday when the crane broke away from an apartment tower under construction.

Witnesses say it toppled like a tree onto buildings as far as a block away.

The last three bodies were found today.

Officials say a preliminary investigation shows that the crane toppled when a steel collar used to tie it to the side of the building fell as workers attempted to install it.

That damaged a lower steel collar that supported the crane.

Investigators say that with the elimination of the lower support the counter-weights at the top of the crane's tower caused it to fall.

Twenty-four others were injured, including 11 first responders, Bloomberg said. Eight remained hospitalized Sunday, officials said.

The mayor called the collapse at the construction site of a new high-rise condo building one of the city’s worst construction accidents.

The crane broke into pieces Saturday afternoon as it came loose from its supports, toppling across 51st Street and the buildings between there and 50th Street. One section that was lying on top of the remains of the town house jutted into 50th Street.

“I heard a big crash, and I saw dust immediately,” said Maureen Shea, a 66-year-old retired banker who was lying in bed talking on the phone when she glanced out her window and saw bricks raining from the sky. “I thought the crane was coming in my window.”

Four of the victims were identified as construction workers Wayne Bleidner, 51, of Pelham; Brad Cohen; Anthony Mazza, 39; and Aaron Stephens, 45, of New York City, police said Sunday.

The fallen crane had stood at least 19 storeys high and was attached at various points to the side of a half-built apartment tower. The crane was to have been extended Saturday so workers could start work on a new level of the planned 43-storey building, said an owner of the company that manages the construction site.

The Associated Press

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