Crane Accident

A 45 metre free standing tower crane went over in Studen in the Canton of Bern in Switzerland last week, injuring three. The crane, a fairly recent WolffKran owned by the Thun based contractor Frutiger, was mounted on a cross base which was sitting on built-up ground, retained by pilings.

A large mobile crane went over somewhere in Texas last week, from what, looking at the photographs, appears to be obvious reasons. From what we understand no one was injured in the incident. The photos were sent to us by a reader who has said little about the accident apart from observing that the rear outriggers do not appear to have been extended and there is no counterweight in place. The accident apparently occurred on November 18th although we have no firm confirmation of this date.

A loader crane left in a raised position while travelling on the road, brought a pedestrian bridge down onto other traffic, during the rush hour in Helsinki yesterday, resulting in one death and three other injuries.

Six people died and one was injured on Saturday after a tower crane came down in Dandong City, northeast China’s Liaoning Province, close to the North Korean border. Six men were apparently working on the 50 metre crane when it went over on a construction site in the Zhenxing District. Four died at the scene, while the other two died later in hospital according to a statement from the local authorities.

A Romanian Self Erecting Tower Crane tips and strikes three cars. Up to now we have no reports as to fatalities or injuries from the crane tipping, we will continue to monitor this situation and update as information comes in.

A Wolffkran Tower Crane collapsed and appears to have been on a cross base that was surrounded by water.

A runaway crane smashed into a bus yesterday in Taiwan killing four people – three women and a man – and injuring a further eight. There were a total of 16 passengers on the bus. The accident involving a dated four axle truck crane, occurred in Guishan, Taoyuan County

An All Terrain crane owned and operated by the Budapest Fire department turned over on Wednesday while lifting artwork into Buda castle. The crane a four axle Tadano Faun ATF 60-4, working over the rear, had just lifted a crate of Munkácsy paintings in to the castle by way of its large balcony.

We have been trying to ascertain the facts of a large crawler crane accident in the UK for a week now and still know little more than the basic facts. We received several reports that a 300 tonne Liebherr LR1300, owned by Weldex, had tipped over on a wind farm project in South Wales

The superstructure of boom/utility truck was ripped from its truck while installing a sign support in Augusta Georgia yesterday. The combined crane/work platform owned by Sign Care Carolina was placing the heavy steel base for a new billboard on a used car lot when the crane’s superstructure broke free from its mounting.