FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – A construction worker has died after a portion of a crane fell onto a bridge over the New River in downtown Fort Lauderdale Thursday afternoon, crushing a car.
It happened on the Southeast Third Avenue bridge.
Sky 10 cameras showed officers covering up a body with a yellow tarp near the site. Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue officials later confirmed that one person was killed in the accident.
According to first responders, an operator was in the process of hoisting the piece of the crane to the top of a nearby building under construction and placing it on some scaffolding when it came crashing down.
“Unfortunately, one of the workers had fallen with the load off of the building and succumbed to those injuries,” Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue Chief Stephen Gollan said at a news conference.
Sky 10 cameras showed that the piece of the crane struck a car and another vehicle nearby was also damaged.
Witnesses, including Local 10 News reporter Roy Ramos, heard two loud crashes: a piece of the crane hitting the ground and another hitting the bridge.
“You could feel the vibrations from the noise,” a witness said. “So I came up here and I saw part of the crane on the bridge.”
“We were crossing on the other bridge and we saw a big piece of the blue crane falling through the sky and then we heard it,” one woman said.
The witnesses said they saw people running towards one of the vehicles.
Cellphone video shows a woman limping out of the vehicle that the crane landed on.
First responders confirmed that in addition to the worker’s death, one person sustained minor injuries.
“It was an open intersection with vehicles passing both north and southbound lanes,” Gollan said. “Our crews immediately went to work, stabilizing the area, stabilizing the rest of the building and evacuating the area to make sure the scene was safe. We then went floor by floor of the building to make sure all of the workers on the building were safe and to make sure everyone was (accounted for).”
Local 10′s Samiar Nefzi spoke to Cari McCormick, who lives in a waterfront condo near the scene.
“It was unimaginable,” she said.
McCormick said she’s now concerned about a portion of the crane that is still hanging from the building.
“I’m a little concerned about the crane part that’s hanging over there. I keep checking it,” she said. “It’s scary that it would happen, so someone made a mistake.”
Concerns are now mounting as federal and state investigators have arrived to the fatal scene.
Officials say preliminary information points to a failure while crews were performing a technique called “stepping the crane.”
Southeast Third Avenue was closed to vehicle traffic after the accident and the New River was closed to marine traffic in the area.
“It’s (an) unfortunate inconvenience,” one boat captain said. “There’s not really anything commercial or money making on this river. It’s all pleasure.”
A spokesperson for Broward County confirmed Friday morning that county bridge staff and FDOT bridge inspectors inspected the bridge Thursday night and determined that it was safe for travel.
“County staff secured the bridge temporarily until we can design and install the permanent repairs,” the spokesperson said in an email to Local 10 News. “The bridge is fully functioning for both vehicular and boat traffic.”