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A crane hoisting metal material at the World Trade Center site dropped its load Thursday.
Updated at 4:51 p.m. ET: NEW YORK -- A crane hoisting steel beams at the World Trade Center site dropped its load Thursday, crushing a construction vehicle on the ground 40 stories below and sending workers scrambling for safety, local media reported.
The Tishman construction company, the general contractor, said no one was hurt in the accident, NBCNewYork.com reported. Other media reports said one person was checked out by medical workers at the scene and released.
Tishman said a cable on the crane snapped at around 10 a.m. The truck had hauled the steel into the lower Manhattan site.
Construction worker Frank Pensabene heard a loud crash. He said: "Everybody was yelling and running."
“It’s a miracle” nobody was killed, said steamfitter Mark Sherank, 45, who was in the middle of a safety meeting in a nearby building when the steel fell, the New York Daily News reported.
"I looked outside I saw the truck it's a pancake now,” he said, according to the Daily News. “A noise like that, you know something's wrong."
Tishman said it is investigating the incident along with the city fire and buildings departments, and the Port Authority, which owns the site.
There were some subway disruptions for about an hour.
The accident occurred inside the construction zone at Four World Trade Center.
More content from msnbc.com and NBC News
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Man we must be desperate for news today!!
You are here aren't you? Are you desperate for news? I'm not, I just like to keep up
I immediately thought this was Obamas fault when I read it. Idiot
Damn liberals!
I'll never forget where I was when I heard about the steel that was dropped by a crane at the WTC.
nevar forget
You'll never forget Morton? 2/16, will now be known as the day the steel fell from the crane, the day we'll never forget.
Anita MandaHuginkiss congratulations it only took two post before you tried to turn it into a Obama issue. If you don't like that you can't make up crap about Obammy (which in case you don't know isn't his name and makes you sound like a two year old) then why do you bother coming here? Go hang out on FOXnews.com and I'm sure they will all suck up to you and your witty name calling.
I have been seeing a new form of censorship on msnbc lately, notice that BSNBC Closes the discussion if it is critical of them or Obama.
Why msnbc are you neutering our expression of free speech that you don't like?
Wait, is the Christian Reich now going to demand that the steel be preserved in a memorial? Like the "WTC Cross?" You know, that shape that EVERY @!$%#ING BUILDING EVER BUILT USING STEEL has in millions of repetitions? And yet, somehow this one is sacred and needs to be included as a sign of Christian Hegemony?
Don't forget to whine more about the "Ground Zero Mosque."
It's not Obama's fault guys. They would not have to rebuild the WTC if Dick Cheney hadn't knocked it down in the first place.
They do not close articles because if either Obama or msnbc they close them when the get spammed by the right wing with off topic comments that are meaningless like those above.
Back about 1993 I saw a crane drop a load of several 60-foot 12-inch I-Beams from probably 100 feet in the air when the load strap broke, and it was lucky that the strap hadn't broken a few seconds earlier too, as the crane hand would have been nearby at that point, or they could have fallen back on top of my truck too. Bad luck too, as they landed in the grass, but one beam landed first and the others landed sideways across it, bending all of them. And, when the safety man showed up on the site, the crane operator tried to blame the crane hand for setting the straps wrong too!
But, I told the safety man that the crane operator had insisted on using a strap that was already cut an inch into a 4-inch strap, instead of his brand-new straps, and that was right where the strap broke too. Then safety man shook my hand, and then I drove out, and I still don't know how it turned-out either!!!
Moral of the story: Stay out from under a load that a crane is lifting!!!
@Old Timer-88224
How many movie studios have contacted you about turning this story into a feature film? LOL
Don't worry about her. She's clearly attention seeking and has posted that same exact comment over 30 times today alone. I just emailed Sally and Tyler, let's see if they will punt her down the road a bit.
Anita MandaHuginkiss banned for comment spamming.
Ty again Sally, you rock as always!
Don't you think they should have done soils testing before starting construction? But then again, this is another government job.
I think they spent two years doing the geotech report for this site.
Ralph, two of the largest skyscrapers in the world were sitting on that location for almost 30 years. Pretty sure the ground is stable.
How is this project a government job? Explain that ralph.
@RALPH---so your saying 9/11 was a government job? i feel so sorry for you, pure ignorance. please dont reproduce, the last thing this world needs is another moron like you!
Ralph, they are checking for damage they may have been done when the beams crashed down. At least that's how my sensible brain took it.
Folks, don't pick on 'poor Ralph'. You can't fix stupid.
they are checking the foundation because the beams "shook the structure" when they fell...think stress fractures moron...soil tests? are they planting a garden?
Soils tests ("soil" being the appropriate engineering term for the "dirt" that accounts for much of the foundational strength) will be necessary because while soil will handle static loads and typical construction related traffic, it can be jarred by forces large enough to be detrimental such as steel beams of unknown (but obviously VERY @!$%#ing heavy) weight falling from certain heights. And I do believe that it being a "government" job holds absolutely no relevance. Ralph isn't stupid. He's just angry for no reason, which is stupid.
Ralph, I think they are checking to see if the foundation was damaged by the beams falling.
It appears that the trailer cushioned the beams fall. The tractor is likely OK, but the trailer will need more than Earle Schibe can do.
Ralph all I have to say is this. If you hate the US Government so bad then why not just move to another country? I read all the time how people are talking down the government. Sure there are flaws in our government, but there are flaws in every government. To just complain about it doesn't fix anything. If you don't like it here, MOVE! As far as I know the government doesn't have any chains on you or anyone else that isn't a criminal in jail.
The WTC rebuild project is taking a long time, over 10 years now. One hang up, work stoppage, falling beams, tweak here, debate there after another. Too long, too many cost overruns, it's edging into fail territory.
Let's hope it doesn't end up like the idiotic "I-4 Eyesore" project in Orlando, which is a perfect example of how far along construction can get on a large building before grinding to a permanent stop.
thank a union trough feeder
i wish every time i dropped my load it made the news
You mean like take a dump? Very newsworthy indeed, they could keep record scores of what happens.
Only if it's the biggest load in history.
The PA had to save money because they got caught wastin' a whole bunch of it, so the first thing they did was buy cheaper cable for the crane...Thank the Lord no one was hurt...
Oh yeah, DROPPIN' LOADS!!!
Baba Booey.
Sht happens.
Since when does a soil test have anything to do with a cable on a crane? They only reason I can see rechecking the soil is due to the impact shock on the ground done by the falling beams which may have cuased some damage to the soil and casue it to shift... bad for buildings
Probably someone either forgot the inspect the cable, or it was simlpy a bum cable that slipped quality control. I just hope the workers are uninjured, and let the builder's risk actuaries duke it out with the vendor.
Trucks, beams, cables, concrete, and even whole buildings can be replaced - people cannot.
derpy----hilarious i dropped a load after i read that!
The cable was probably made in China.
Glad to hear nobody was seriously injured or killed.
this place is haunted.
So is this one!
I would like to know if the cable was the load line for the crane, or was one of the chokers wrapped around the load. It's not likely the load exceeded 25 tons, because that is the load limit for that kind of trailer.
In the photo you can clearly see the large quantity of cable laying around the trailer and load.. My guess it was not the sling that snapped but the main hoist spools cable.. When I worked offshore we used to unspool the whole cable monthly and hand inspect it and lubricate it as we drew it back onto the spool.. That was a greasy crummy job but it was also very important because in that cramped work environment someone was always in close proximity to the lifts.. The union will either oversee a proper investigation or get a pocket full of cash for the cover up..
@Roadrunner' Thank you for an intelligent reply on the subject from someone who understands the rigging industry.
MY ONLY QUESTION IS IT MADE IN CHINA?? it has to be the weakest link. Cheap products crappy output.
Highly doubtful. First the Chinese don't have the ability to make these types of crane cables. Second, these companies, unions, osha, etc wouldn't let an unproven manufacturer put a crane cable on a job site like this. If they did it's criminal. Highly doubtful, everyone at the end of the day is most concerned about safety. Also all cables have identifiers in them, traceable back to the manufacturer.
I'm sure that someone thinks it is the President's fault because he personally did not check the safety of the cable.
Bush era cable for sure although broke is synonymous with the Obama economic focus for the working man..
Defective American steel cables made in China!!
Oh man! We really need this new WTC to be built. We'll do whatever it takes: Use materials from China, risk the building again, make it taller than the old building.
The cable snapping and the steel falling was due to God's will. The fundamentalists state that God is in control of EVERYTHING, therefore anything that happens, good, bad or indifferent, is due to God so willing it to occur.
So, if you religious types thank The Invisible Guy in the Sky when things go well, do you curse him when things go badly? I'll bet the crane operator did after he put on some dry pants.
Santorum and Bachmann could have prevented it.
It's been over ten years, what are they still building?
I call for a new National Holiday to commemorate this event.
no 1 was hurt because when lifting a load ever person is made to stan back -man made cable man made crane man made truck all replaceable --humans not rplaceable-- things happen --so people,workers get back we dont dont kno what can happen
This was the first of several warnings from Iran.
no wonder the cost of the memorial has inreased considerably...
it's due to union incompetence...no change we can still believe in...yea!
Highly doubtful. First the Chinese don't have the ability to make these types of crane cables. Second, these companies, unions, osha, etc wouldn't let an unproven manufacturer put a crane cable on a job site like this. If they did it's criminal. Highly doubtful, everyone at the end of the day is most concerned about safety. Also all cables have identifiers in them, traceable back to the manufacturer
Brian how would you know what China is capable of? roflmao. Experts come out of the woodwork everywhere.
LMAO.
35 years in the wire rope business and a few dozen trips to these Chinese wire rope mills actually makes me an expert, care to continue jonny?
Not everybody posting to this thread is a no job loser kid like you my friend...LMFAO LB