09.07.2015

Tower crane collapse in Cameroon

A tower crane came crashing down in Douala, Cameroon, West Africa on Tuesday, while being dismantled.

Although initial reports suggested that there had been a number of fatalities, we understand that the actual casualties were one seriously injured. He was taken to hospital where he remains in critical condition.

The crane was installed six years ago by a Chinese contractor to help build the l’Institut supérieur de management (ISMA) in the city. We understand that when the building was completed, the contractor simply abandoned the crane. And now the Institute wanted to remove.

A team of three people were attempting to dismantle the crane, but clearly had little knowledge of how to do so safely and apparently removed components out of sequence, triggering the collapse.

The photo we have been sent shows that the tower came down somewhere near to the base. Local reports suggest that the all the ties to the building were also removed before the dismantling began.

The crane went over while the area was open to the public, and it is extremely lucky that there were not multiple fatalities.