12.06.2014
Fatal tower crane incident
One man is dead and another seriously injured after a tower crane overturned in the town of Saint-Sulpice, Switzerland yesterday.
The two men were trying to fix a problem with the crane and were both in the cab when it went over late last night. The crane, a regular saddle jib unit, with concrete ballasted free standing base, overturned at its base.
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The crane overturned at the base
The two were airlifted to nearby Lausanne, with one of them, a French citizen aged 33 died shortly after his arrival at the hospital, the other a Swiss, 35, is said to be in serious condition.
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The crane was a regular saddle jib crane
A third man was on site at the time working on the ground and was unhurt, but suffering from shock.
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The two men were in the cab when the crane went over
Michael Brown
Very sad indeed i hope the survivor recovers quickly. Well its a Liebherr which is associated with quality & reliability, looking at the configuration there's not that much tower height 25 meter but that doesn't mean it's less likely to tip as base ballast on cruciform bases have been known to move & with a shorter tower there is more tower flex transmitted to the base. The site looks new with no sign of a building so it could be an accident in erecting the crane which also increases the chances of ground subsidence. Its curious as to what actually happened.
All seems a little strange as to why a crane under repair would topple at its base like that - what was the fault that the poor guys were trying to remedy and what was the crane been tasked with doing at the time of collapse - maybe we will never know - just hope someone finds out !