Crane Collapses in Lower Manhattan, Killing At Least One Person

NEW YORK: At least one person was killed Friday when a crane collapsed in Lower Manhattan, police said.

The crane came down shortly before 8:30 a.m., toppling onto the street and spanning more than the entire length of a city block, officials and witnesses said.

At least three other people were injured, two of them seriously, according to the Fire Department.

Immediately after the collapse, a city official, citing preliminary information, said that at least 15 people had been injured, but as officials gathered information, the injury toll was revised.

The first call came in at 8:24 a.m., a Fire Department spokesman said.

Many streets in the area have been closed, and the scene is crowded with emergency responders searching cars for anyone who might be trapped, as well as workers from utility companies to check gas lines.

New York City Transit said trains were bypassing stations at Franklin Street and Chambers Street.

Dan Vaughan, 47, an electrician, was working on the 36th floor of a nearby building when he and a colleague saw the crane shaking in the snow and wind; it crashed as workers were trying to lower it. "The wind blew it down," Vaughan said.

A veteran of construction jobs, he said he did not know why the workers kept it upright during the storm. "That crane should have been down last night," he said.

The crane hit part of a building and crashed onto a car, Vaughan said.

Robert Harold, a Legal Aid lawyer, was in his office nearby. He said heard an enormous crash, and saw the crane stretch across the north side of Worth Street.

He said he saw people trying to help a person trapped in a car, and another person lying lifeless in the street.

"It was a crashing sound," Harold, 59, said. "It shook the building. You could feel the vibration."