NEW YORK (Reuters) -The top portion of a construction crane caught fire and crashed into a Manhattan street on Wednesday, injuring four civilians and two firefighters as debris rained down during the morning rush hour, authorities said.
Firefighters and rescue personnel arrived at the scene just as the crane fell, apparently responding to the blaze that had erupted in the cabin before the collapse.
The incident unfolded at about 7:30 a.m. in the area of 10th and 11th avenues and West 41 and 42 streets, near the Hudson Yards complex, the New York City Police Department said on the X social media platform, formerly known as Twitter.
The NYPD urged people to avoid the area, with the surrounding streets blocked and traffic through the nearby Lincoln Tunnel to New Jersey snarled.
Unverified video footage posted on social media showed the top part of the crane snapping and falling to the ground, grazing a nearby building on its way down. At the same time, thick, black smoke can be seen billowing from the crane’s cabin.
Six people suffered minor injuries when the top of the crane, a 16-ton load of concrete it was lifting, and glass and debris from the damaged building showered into the street, fire officials said.
The crane operator, who was uninjured, tried to extinguish the fire before getting out of the cabin, the officials said, but the heat weakened a cable that was helping support the arm of the crane, apparently causing it to buckle.
(Reporting by Frank McGurty in New York and Brendan O’Brien in Chicago)
