A crawler crane travelling down a canal on board a barge in Belgium was pulled over yesterday when its boom caught up in overhead high tension power lines.
The barge was travelling south on the N9 road just north of Ghent, when its fully raised lattice boom caught in the wires, the crane tipped over backwards with the boom landing on the barge’s cabin. Damage appeared light and fortunately the crane remained on board.
Damage appeared light and the crane remained on board
The power lines however were pulled down, landing on the road and in the water, forcing the road and the canal to be closed. Surprisingly the local power was restored relatively swiftly, and no one was hurt in the incident.
The wires are difficult to spot, especially against the sun, however it is normal for cranes like this to have the boom either fully lowered or at least lowered to around 45 degrees. The barge, the Dongestroom, and crane are part of the Herbosch-Kiere fleet.
The wires are not that easy to spot
The incident was caught on the Tik-Tok video below.
Platform Junkie
Damage appeared light? Look at the tower in the background!