MIAMI — A section of a construction crane plummeted 30 floors at the site of a high-rise condominium Tuesday, killing two workers and smashing into a home that the contractor used for storage, police said.
Five other workers were injured, one critically, at the site of the 40-plus-story luxury condo tower on Biscayne Bay just days after a similar accident in New York killed seven people.
The part that fell was a 20-foot section workers had been raising to extend the equipment’s reach, Miami fire spokesman Ignatius Carroll said. The crane’s main vertical section was intact.
The section smashed through the Spanish-tiled roof of the two-story home, which police spokesman Delrish Moss said had been used in the 1998 comedy film “There’s Something About Mary.” Emergency workers and dogs found no evidence of trapped victims, but fire officials said rescue efforts were hampered because the crane section remained unstable. Rescue workers were trying to secure a severely damaged wall before re-entering the house to check for anyone inside.
David Martinez, 31, a pipe fitter, was on the fourth floor of the condo tower eating lunch when the crash occurred.
“It was like a small earthquake,” he said. “We looked outside, and we couldn’t even see.” It took several minutes for the dust to clear, Martinez said.
One of those killed died in the house, and the other died at a hospital, Moss said.
Mary Costello, a senior vice president for Bovis Lend Lease Holdings Inc., which was managing the construction, said the accident occurred when a subcontractor tried to raise the crane section and it came loose.
The company is cooperating with investigators, she said.
The subcontractor, Morrow Equipment Co., and the tower developer, Royal Palms Communities, did not return phone messages seeking comment.
The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration had two investigators at the site.
Darlene Fossum, an area director for the agency, said Bovis Lend Lease had partnered with OSHA in the past and was considered a company that went “above and beyond” in terms of safety and health.
Tuesday’s accident came 10 days after a 20-story crane toppled at a New York construction site, killing seven people. The crane demolished a four- story townhouse and damaged several other buildings.
