NEW YORK: The man who was at the helm of the crane that caught fire and collapsed in Manhattan’s Hudson Yards Wednesday once had his operating license suspended after a co-worker plummeted 48 stories to his death, New York Post reported on Thursday.
It said that the Department of Buildings identified Chris Van Duyne of Rockaway, New Jersey, as the man who was operating a construction crane that snapped and struck a neighboring building before smashing onto the street below.
Despite verifying Van Duyne was the operator, the DOB said records didn’t list the 62-year-old man on the construction paperwork.
The DOB couldn’t say whether the omission was unusual and said they were looking into it.
Van Duyne, along with his older brother James Van Duyne, temporarily lost their tower-crane operators’ licenses in September 2008 after a crane rigger fell from a platform
The construction crane caught fire and partially collapsed in the heart of Manhattan on Wednesday morning, sending commuters fleeing for their lives as rubble rained down onto the streets below.
The fire broke out at around 7.30am ET on a crane on a building under construction along W 41st St and 10th Avenue, close to Hudson Yards.
Bystander footage showed the top of the crane alight before it suddenly collapsed, crashing into a building opposite where it appeared to smash several windows. New Yorkers in the streets below were seen running away from the carnage.
Two construction workers told The Independent about the “terrifying” moment the building they were working in was suddenly struck by the crane.
“We’re walking down the stairs and that’s when you hear the boom, boom, boom,” Alexander, a construction worker who only wished to be identified by his first name, told The Independent.
Twelve people – nine civilians and three firefighters – were injured in the collapse, the FDNY told CNN.
The post The Wednesday collapsed crane’s operator in NYC, also involved in 2008 fatal accident?? first appeared on VOSA.
This post was originally published on VOSA.