28.12.2009

Fatal crane accident in China

A tower crane collapsed in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen yesterday killing five men aged 21 to 30 and seriously injuring another.

Hard facts are scant, but the crane was working on a 16 storey mixed residential/commercial building on a site in Shenzhen's Bao'an district.

The crane's tower appears to have collapsed at the point of its last tie-in to the building at the 13th floor. Local reports indicate that the crane operator was among the dead, along with four others who were knocked from the scaffolding around the building.
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The collapsed crane

Police are investigating the accident along with local regulatory authorities and have arrested five managers/supervisors responsible for the site. The main contractor appears to be Construction Engineering Co of Fujian.

Update

Later reports are now claiming that a sixth body has been found in the building while the crane's maufacturer Guangxi Construction Machinery, Has quickly blamed the accident on an untrained operator overloading the crane by lifting three tonnes when the crane's maximum capacity is just two tonnes.