Upper East Side Crane Collapse
May 30, 2008
A construction crane collapsed shortly after 8 a.m. this morning on New York’s Upper East Side, smashing into a high-rise apartment building before crashing more than a dozen stories onto the street below.
The Fire Department said it has pulled people out of the wreckage at East 91st Street and First Avenue. It’s unclear how many people were rescued and whether or not there might be others still trapped.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg was in the middle of his Friday morning radio show when news of the crane collapse broke.
“You know, we have inspectors out. I mean, it’s – construction is dangerous, but this is just unacceptable and intolerable. What happened in this case, I have no idea. We’re going to find out,” he said.
The top floor of a nearby high-rise apartment building was damaged with a corner of the building ripped apart.
Firefighters and rescue workers are continuing to search through the wreckage.
This morning’s collapse comes on the heels of a major overhaul in the Department of Building after a crane collapse on March 15th killed seven people and damaged several area buildings in Manhattan’s Turtle Bay.
That collapse led to the arrest of the crane inspector who had given the crane the green light just days before it crashed to the ground. Then DOB Commissioner Patricia Lancaster handed in her resignation.
In April, the DOB launched a $4 million initiative to examine construction sites around the city, sending 20 engineering experts to investigate crane operations, concrete operations and excavations.
The city has added extra inspections at building sites and required that its staff be on hand whenever the towering cranes were raised higher, a process known as a jump. Those procedures are still being revised.
Before today’s crash, 13 people had already died in construction-related accidents around the city — one more than all of 2007.
The MTA says that due to the crane collapse there are some bus service changes in the area. The M15, M31, M86, and X90 are all on detour.
Just yesterday NY1 reported that the DOB eased their policy on crane’s read more
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