Seven New York City construction workers were injured yesterday when a crane collapsed in Queens, officials said.
Three of the workers were pinned by the collapsed 380-foot crane, though officials said none of their injuries were life-threatening.
The crane crashed at a Queens waterfront work site where luxury towers are under construction.
The crane is owned by a man acquitted last year of criminally negligent homicide in a 2008 Manhattan crane collapse that left two construction workers dead.
That collapse was on May 30, 2008, just two months after another crane accident on Manhattan’s East Side. In that collapse, seven people were killed.
Yesterday’s collapse happened around 2:20 in the afternoon.
A carpenter, 48, told a newspaper that he had come close to being killed yesterday as he and other workers scrambled to safety when the giant metal machine toppled.
He said they heard cables snapping and metal buckling as they ran for cover.
The crane had been erected just four days before it came tumbling down, slamming into scaffolding and plywood on the worksite.
A trucker said workers were loading wooden planks on the crane when it collapsed.
Afterwards, shaken workers searched the area to make sure friends and colleagues were safe.
Seven workers were taken to area hospitals afterwards: two to New York-Presbyterian Cornell and five others to Elmhurst Hospital Center.
When a construction worker is injured in a crane collapse, there are inevitably medical bills to be paid, and in many cases, lost wages and other damages as well. All of these financial issues can be addressed promptly with the aid of an attorney experienced in construction accident legal matters.
Source: inquistr.com, “NYC Crane Collapse: FDNY Responding To Construction Accident In Queens,” Jan. 9, 2013
- Our firm represents New York City construction workers injured in crane accidents.