Crane collapse in Manhattan kills four

Many residents of the neighborhood around the site of the collapse — 51st Street between Second and First Avenues—said they had been worried for months about the possibility of a collapse.

By Consulting Specifying Engineer Staff March 17, 2008

A crane towering over a high-rise construction site on the East Side of Manhattan collapsed Saturday afternoon across a city block. According to the New York Times ,

At least four people were killed and more than a dozen others were injured, and damage was expected to run into the millions of dollars in what the authorities called one of the city’s worst accidents.

Many residents of the neighborhood around the site of the collapse — 51st Street between Second and First Avenues—said they had been worried for months about the possibility of a collapse, calling the crane, looming higher each week, a menace, particularly because so many residential buildings were being put up in the area with remarkable speed: several floors a week at times.