Seventh Body Found In NYC Crane Collapse
Miami Woman's Body Is Pulled From Wreckage; Discovery Of Final Victim Concludes Search
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Play CBS Video Video NYC Crane Deaths Cause Outcry Safety concerns have heightened in New York City after a 200-ft crane fell to the ground, killing at least four construction workers. Bianca Solorzano reports.
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Video NYC Crane Collapse Kills Four A freak construction-site accident today in Manhattan killed at least four people after a giant crane crashed into an apartment building. Wendy Gillette reports.
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Rescue workers work at the scene of a crushed building on 50th Street near Second Avenue, March 15, 2008 in New York. A giant crane toppled over at a construction site and smashed into a block of residential buildings killing six people and setting off a scramble for survivors. (AP Photo/Toykin Chin)
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New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg addresses the media at the scene of a major crane accident in New York, March 15, 2008. A crane mounted to the side of a skyscraper under construction toppled with a roar Saturday, smashing into a block of apartment buildings. At left is NYC Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly. (AP Photo/Frances Roberts)
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A section of collapsed crane lies on top of a crushed building on March 15, 2008 in New York. A giant crane toppled over at a construction site and smashed into a block of residential buildings. At least six people are dead. (AP Photo/Jason DeCrow)
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A section of collapsed crane protrudes from a crushed building on March 15, 2008 in New York. A giant crane toppled over at a construction site and smashed into a block of residential buildings. (AP Photo/Jason DeCrow)
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Photo Essay Deadly Collapse Giant crane topples, smashing into a block of residential buildings in NYC
Six construction workers and a Miami woman in town for St. Patrick's Day were killed Saturday when the crane broke away from an apartment tower under construction and toppled like a tree onto buildings as far as a block away. The last three bodies were found Monday.
The Miami woman was in a friend's apartment in the townhouse during the collapse.
Two dozen people also were injured in the accident.
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."
In addition to the woman and the two construction workers pulled from the wreckage Monday, the four other victims have been 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.
On Sunday, construction crews positioned a second crane to help remove pieces of the toppled structure and started removing piles of debris from the street.
The fallen crane had stood at least 19 stories 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-story building, said an owner of the company that manages the construction site.
A piece of steel fell and sheared off one of the ties holding it to the building, causing the structure to detach and topple, said Stephen Kaplan, an owner of the Reliance Construction Group.
"It was an absolute freak accident," he said Saturday. "All the piece of steel had to do was fall slightly left or right, and nothing would have happened."
Kaplan said the company had subcontracted the work to different companies and was not in charge of the crane. There was no immediate response to calls and an e-mail seeking comment from the crane's owner, New York Crane & Equipment Corp.
Neighbors said they had complained to the city about the crane.
"I warned the Buildings Department on March 4 that it was not sufficiently braced against the building," said Bruce Silberblatt, a retired contractor and vice president of the Turtle Bay Neighborhood Association.
CBS News correspondent Bianca Solorzano reports that the city had answered at least 38 complaints since the high rise project began.
The city had issued 13 violations at the construction site in the past 27 months.
Solorzano reports that Manhattan borough president Scott Stringer is demanding change.
"We've had partial building collapses; we've had fires in buildings," said Stringer, "we've had cranes pummeling down shafts in buildings; we've had loss of life injuries. This incident is just the latest example of needless people dieing because we do not have proper safety protocols in this city."
CBS News affiliate WCBS-TV reports Stringer recommended Mayor Michael Bloomberg should form a multi-agency task force to inspect all major construction projects.
"It is unacceptable for the Department of Buildings to say yesterday that the 13 open violations on this construction site were ... business as usual," Stringer said. "We can't keep going on like this."
Bloomberg said Sunday that investigators were looking at either mechanical failure or "perhaps human error" as a possible cause of the accident.
"As far as we can tell, all procedures that were called for were being followed," the mayor added.
He said about 250 construction cranes are operating in the city, and he said the accident should not alarm people living near them.
"Do I think that you should worry if there's a crane across the street? No," the mayor said. "This is such a rare thing that I don't think we should worry about it."
Last month at a Donald Trump hotel-condo tower, a worker plummeted 40 stories to his death when a concrete form gave way. A month before that, a crane's nylon sling broke away and dropped seven tons of steel onto a construction trailer across from ground zero, injuring an architect.
© MMVIII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Sure there are problems with some unions, but without them there''s absolutely nothing to induce employers to give fair wages - or maintain safety.
I have to agree with you. If a piece of steel fell it wasn''t secured properly or a cable was faulty.
Nonetheless, safety personnel are supposed to protect people from that "freak" chance happening. If the steel sheared one or two supports, there should have been enough left to keep the crane from toppling.
That''s what the term redundancy covers. Having something in place to protect from catastrophic failure from other parts. This is gross negligence on the part of the crane company and possibly the inspectors who missed or ignored the problem. Especially with the fact that complaints had been lodged about the very factors attributable to the accident. Some people should lose their jobs and be charged with negligent man-slaughter. The company will without a doubt be sued, due to the nature of lawyers, if nothing else, but then they need suing.
I agree that an independent study of all construction sites needs to be performed and recommendations taken to heart to remedy this deplorable situation.
Posted by taylpatr"
Correct, and if this was all it took to totally dislodge and destroy this crane then theres something wrong with the design, its installation etc, but at the very least whomever hitched the load up didnt do his job right or it wouldnt have come off- a sling was either not on right, broke, was cut thru by not padding sharp corners etc.
""...just the latest example of needless people dieing..."
Given the way things are today, it would not surprise me the guy DID mean "needless people", funny I see no retraction on this or correction...
Guess Im the ONLY One who noticed they spelled the word ''dieing'' WRONG, its DYING, cant believe the editors missed that one, a 5th grader knows it.
Yeah erasmus6, crane accidents happen, in fact if you want to see images of the best of the idiots, you can see some of the crazy stuff people do with cranes which causes trouble;
www.craneaccidents.com
The premier source for crane accident reports, photos, and professional commentary about crane related accidents. The site was launched on January 27, 1999
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It''s a tragedy those people died, even if they had achieved needlessness in this world.
The term "violation" doesnt mean much, nor does the NUMBER, inspectors can write up the most insanely stupid little nothings because they CAN. A violation could be something as simple as too much dust, failure to physically display the construction permit sign, failure to have a watchman, or it could be failure to secure a load properly to a crane, failure to provide safety harnesses to workers, failure to require eye/hearing protection on workers using jackhammers.
The number 13 in 27 MONTHS of work on a large project is nothing, its misleading for the above reasons.
If we learn the 13 violations were SERIOUS, thats way different than if they were for dust, signage, noise levels before 7 AM etc etc.
How ironic, a religious day kills this woman, had there been no Saint Patrick''s day she would be alive!
"I warned the Buildings Department on March 4 that it was not sufficiently braced against the building," said Bruce Silberblatt, a retired contractor"
Oh yeah, and like the dept of buildings is going to take a call from some dork citizen seriously, he have any idea how many idiotic calls that dept must take from know-it-all callers who know nothing about construction or buildings and probably cant put up shelving in their apartment without help, but they are instant sidewalk construction site superintendents?
- by creeper00 March 17, 2008 12:13 AM EDT
- "The city had issued 13 violations at the construction site in the past 27 months."
- Reply to this comment
See all 17 CommentsEvidently authorities were too busy looking into Eliot Spitzer''s affairs to worry about the safety of New York''s citizens.