Seventh Body Found In NYC Crane Collapse

Miami Woman's Body Is Pulled From Wreckage; Discovery Of Final Victim Concludes Search

(CBS/AP)  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 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.

[greeneyes222]

People who advocate "Right to Work" don''t live where it''s in effect. It''s a pretty phrase that means you''re at the mercy of the bosses who make real money while you hope for crumbs to fall from the table.

Sure there are problems with some unions, but without them there''s absolutely nothing to induce employers to give fair wages - or maintain safety.

[sumarongi]

taylpatr,

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.

[taylpatr]

Hey, Stephen Kaplan: it wasn''t a freak accident.The piece of steel was NOT SUPPOSED TO FALL! Steel doesn''t fall during the erection process unless somebody or something failed. I have erected and taken down many tower cranes and that one was not braced sufficiently. These things happen because the contractor is a tightwad and inept at running a safe job. If it is erected properly, the lower braces should have held it if the top brace failed. A crane like that one should be braced at every floor, or at every point possible. This is what happens when a contractor puts profit over safety. Whether it''s the general contractor or the crane company, someone needs to PAY! It seems to be the only thing they understand.

[newsterl]

One man said in the story "all the steel would have to have done is fall a little to the left or right." As a 23 year Union Ironworker, I can definitly say that THE STEEL IS NOT SUPPOSED TO FALL, YOU IDIOT! NEITHER IS THE CRANE!

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...

[taylpatr]

Unions USED to be the only way we had to make sure things were safe. Since the decline of the Unions, thanks to Ronnie Raygun and Bush I in the 80''s, the Unions have no more power. Capitalism takes pecedence over safety. It''s all about the money. As long as we HAVE to hire people who can''t speak English,(We had a Mexican guy on a job who fell of a ladder. He had been sent to the job by our Union Local. We had to get a translator to find out if he was hurt. The Union B.A. said as long as he has legal papers, they had to work him)or have to complete impossible deadlines on so called "fast track" construction jobs these things are going to happen. One man said in the story "all the steel would have to have done is fall a little to the left or right." As a 23 year Union Ironworker, I can definitly say that THE STEEL IS NOT SUPPOSED TO FALL, YOU IDIOT! NEITHER IS THE CRANE!

[ringading3]

UNIONS have ruined the auto industry, public school system, city workers, and certainly the construction industry! Right to Work takes the waste and unionTax out of products and services.

[azuzis]

Re "needless", I believe the speaker was trying to say that "people dying" was needless. Had he been writing and not speaking, he probably would have written "people needlessly dying". I think Scott Stringer was trying to do his job by speaking up and protecting the people of the borough from further deaths.

[jetlizhan]

how can any of you say any of these victims were "needless people" - what arrogance! i''m sure they were important to their families and in my book that makes them worthy people. you that said that should be totally ashamed of yourselves.

[nothappyatall]

"...just the latest example of needless people dieing..."

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

[erasmus6]

Not long ago, here in Canada, there was an accident involving a crane. It tipped over, crushing the operator. Apparently the operators are not required to have any special training, which of course will be changing now. We are lucky that there hasn''t been more accidents.