Crane topples onto car in Miami’s Brickell, four hurt
A crane at a Miami construction site toppled onto a passing vehicle Monday morning, setting the car on fire and injuring four people. The collapse happened shortly after 8 a.m. in the city’s Brickell neighborhood, sending the driver and three construction workers to hospitals with minor injuries.
Miami Fire Chief Robert Hevia said at a news conference that he was thankful no one was killed.
“I’ve been on the fire department for 28 years, when you see the scene, it’s impressive,” Hevia said. “The fact that we had four victims, and they were all able to be extricated or self-extricate themselves with minor injuries is a remarkable day for them.”
A woman driving on a street next to the construction site saw the crane begin to fall, Hevia said.
“To be able to see the crane falling, pull the car in reverse and pop out of the back while the car’s on fire, really incredible,” he said.
He added that the crane also crushed two unoccupied parked cars but fell on a storage container with two construction workers inside.
The two workers who had been trapped, along with the crane operator who managed to jump out as the crane was tipping over, were all transported to a nearby trauma center with minor injuries. The woman driving the car also had minor injuries and was taken to a different hospital. Officials haven’t identified the injured.
“It was a very complex scene with a fire that was occurring; our crews were putting out the fire and our technical rescue team working simultaneously to cut through the conex box, the construction box, and they were able to successfully extricate the two victims,” Hevia said.
Hevia confirmed that all other workers at the construction site were accounted for.
Officials have not said what caused the crane, specifically a piling rig, to topple, and Hevia said the collapse is under investigation. A piling rig usually shares the same base as a traditional crane, but its upper part is designed to drive columns deep into the ground to support large structures.
