New York Crane Collapse

On Saturday, March 15, 2008 at 2:20pm ET, a construction crane fell on a Manhattan building located on 50th Street, between 1st and 2nd Avenue. The building that was crushed was residential; six confirmed dead were all construction workers attempting to raise the crane, and a seventh died who was a visitor to the area. The crane is believed to have been approximately fifteen stories tall. The collapse completely leveled the four-story apartment building, and neighboring buildings, and also destroyed several cars below. After the collapse, witnesses claimed there was a strong aroma of gas.

Fast Facts:

1. 7 dead
2. Dead include: Wayne Bliedner, Brad Cohen, Anthony Mazza and Aaron Stephens
3. 24 injured
4. Location: 50th Street East, between 1st and 2nd Avenue
5. Time: 2:20pm EST
6. Residents heard a terrible roar before the buildings collapsed
7. Crane split into 4 pieces while falling
8. One crane piece fell onto the apartment building and demolished several rooms and walls
9. Fu Bar was on the ground floor of the building
10. Supposedly several citizens complained that the construction of the building was unsafe, but no violations were given by city inspectors
11. One inspector was arrested for falsely filing paperwork that he inspected the crane on March 4, when he had not

Quotes:

1. Bill Reilly, lives a block away: "First I heard a rumble, and it increased, and then it increased. It continued building in strength until there was a final vroom! It shook the six-story brick building that I live in."
2. Ben Galati, doorman across the street: "I heard a rumble outside. I said 'Let's get out of here!' And then the crane came down. A split second later, I heard an explosion."
3. David Paterson: "While we would never want these type of tragedies to happen in New York City, this is actually the best-prepared place for this to happen."
4. Bruce Silberblatt (Retired Contractor): "When you install a tower crane like this one, you try to locate it as close as possible to the building you're putting up, he said in a phone interview. ``But this particular crane was apart from the building. It was about 12 to 13 feet away as best as I was able to judge."

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