Posted on 03/15/2008 2:52:06 PM PDT by TornadoAlley3
NEW YORK -- A massive crane has collapsed onto several neighboring buildings on the east side of Manhattan, killing at least four people, firefighters said.
Fatal Crane Collapse
At least nine others were injured, three critically. A full rescue operation is under way in the rubble-strewn area near 51st Street and Second Avenue.
Chopper 4 images show that at least three buildings seem to be directly affected by the collapse, while at least another three buildings sustained collateral damage. One small, brick apartment building appeared to have been completely crushed by the falling wreckage.
The crane, about 19 stories tall, toppled around 2:20 p.m, and came to rest against a nearby apartment tower, buckling its side. That building and others in the area were evacuated, fire officials said.
The crane was running up the side of a skyscraper that was under construction, and apparently collapsed backwards affecting an area a city-block wide, officials said.
A report from Borough President Scott Stringer’s office said the building where the crane was operating had nine open violations, including failure to have a site security manager present and working without a permit.
Witnesses report hearing a massive rumble as the crane split apart. Neighborhood residents said they had complained to the city several times about the construction at the site, saying crews worked illegal hours and the building was going up too fast.
According to The Associated Press, the crane split into pieces as it fell. Part of it came to rest against an apartment tower, buckling its facade and smashing it upper floors. That building and others in the area were evacuated. Another piece of the crane hit other buildings on the block, ripping away walls and ceilings and crushing a small building.
what a nightmare. An entire apartment building crushed? seems like a lot of damage from a falling crane.
incredible.
Unfortunately, from the looks of things, the death toll is certain to be much higher.
Don’t big cranes have big counterweights?
Billions for war,
Nothing for cranes.
Not the first time they put a crane through a building and won’t be the last.
New York is not a good place to be this week.
Of course. Which is why, when they pass their center of gravity, they can crush apartment buildings.
Everytime I walk by one of those things, I marvel at them; and of course I wonder what it would be like to be in one and feeling that awful feeling...
Newton's Second Law: Force = Mass x Acceleration
Really; it looks like it was built with an erector set. And it still has a string of Christmas lights on it.
In the video it looks like the crane snapped.
Yes, after Pachyderm mentioned counterweights, I put 2 and 2 together.
The crane was 20 stories, and the building hit by the top piece was only 4 stories. Therefore, the heavy top section fell 15 stories, or about 150 feet.
Mayor Bloomberg has just said only 4 were killed, all construction workers on the crane.
He is still speaking.
We put a crane through a building at Prudhoe Bay. Really annoying since we had just run utilities through the corridor and it ripped it all down. Crane operators are the highest paid operators, possibly because they can do the most damage.
The cranes used for high-rise construction are enormous. An apartment building (read: four story walkup) could easily be crushed.
It actually looks as if, after it snapped, the top section flipped over before impact with small apartment building.
” Pachyderm” You talkin’ to me? “ Pachyderm?”
Anybody know what that small building is that got crushed? I’ve read it housed the Fubar bar on the ground floor, and have read differing reports saying the bar was occupied or unoccupied. But were there apartments above it? Looks like the bigger buildings didn’t take too bad a hit, but that little building is simply pulverized. One can only hope that a lot of people were out and about on a Saturday afternoon.
Does, doesn't it. Also looks like it was a tower crane.
Track crane.
Tower crane.
Just watched the video...Brutal.
I never really looked at compensation from that perspective.
Yeah, thank God the weather was perfect today.
The mayor said that one guy had just been removed alive from the bar, and they were looking for one more.
A woman who lived in the building had gone out shopping. There are only two other floors, and many apartments in NYC are not occupied full-time.
yup ,.. looks like , doesn’t it?
when all is “said & done” , it’ll be interesting to see a Virtual Recreation of this accident
bttt
“Working without a permit”? A homeowner can barely build a deck or a shed in some places without some inspector coming to see if they have a permit, but a 19 story crane is out there without a permit? It don’t compute to me.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=cxM83_hHJC8
May the victims RIP.
bump
What did Bush know and when did he know it? sarc/
Not really, with this kind of crane, assuming it's the kind most commonly used for Manhattan high-rises. A small counterweight way up at the top, on the horizontal part, but nothing that would have any significant effect on stabilizing the whole crane. These are vertical cranes, that are constructed floor by floor as a building gets taller, immediately adjacent to the wall of the building. The vertical portion is normally secured to the building, and only the small horizontal portion is moveable and counterweighted. If this crane's vertical support wasn't properly stabilized, no counterweight could have saved it. A picture of one (on a much taller building) is at this link: http://www.dreamstime.com/highriseconstructioncrane-image207562
I watched one of these things grow out the window of my then office building at Lex and 57th about 10 years ago. Pretty cool. There's a mechanism that lifts the existing sections, opening up a space near the bottom to insert new sections one at a time. I wouldn't be surprised if such an insertion was in progress when this one went over.
Interesting that the March 8, 2008 issue of ENR (Engineering News-Record) addresses the safety of these giants and the lack of mandatary inspections, as well as the lack of any strict qualifications to be an operator.
I doubt that there was no permit at all for the crane. There are probably about a thousand different permits needed to put up a building in Manhattan. This operation may have had 999 and lacked one.
At the press conference, the head of the buildings department stated the crane had been thoroughly inspected by his men yesterday, and no violations had been found.
When judging jobs that people do, and how they are compensated. I have what I call pucker factor.
The higher pucker factor the higher compensation.
When I was younger I looked into changing bulbs on com towers on top of buildings.
Hancock or Sears in Chicago, going rate was $250.00/hr to change 1 bulb, pucker factor plus common sense, indicated I should find different line of work.
An insertion had in fact been scheduled for today, but had not yet started.
The crane was lifting material and something heavy fell off. It landed on one of the supports that attach the crane to the building, causing it to snap and setting off an unfortunate sequence of events.
When you watch the video, notice that the moronic cameraman comments only on the destruction caused by the crane’s boom. What is clearly visible, although he never comments on it, is that the crane’s tower is still upright but is leaning precariously against the building across 51st St from the construction site. I’d pay real good money for a front-row ticket, just out of range, to watch them ease that baby down.
That makes sense. Where did you hear that? I’m in Manhattan but don’t have TV here, and Internet coverage is a bit sparse.
I have made quite a few posts to this thread.
If you mean the one about something dropping off and snapping a support, Mayor Bloomberg mentioned that at the 6 PM news conference.
Looks like Google Earth has a very recent image: 1st Avenue between E. 50th & 51st Streets, if I’m not mistaken. The four-story apartment building that was crushed appears to front Mitchell Place and is quite visible in the foreground.
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