16.08.2006

Crane operators may face criminal charges

Police investigating the major power outage that brought Tokyo to its knees on Monday, may instigate criminal charges against those involved. After two workers on the barge carrying the crane that collided with cables, changed their story.

The construction company had also been warned after a similar incident in 1999.

The workers have now admitted to the police that they had passed under the cables several times before. Immediately after the accident, they had told investigators that it was the first time they had been in the area.

The construction firm had also said that it was the first time the 34 year old crane operator had travelled down the Kyu-Edogawa River

The crane belonged to construction firm Mikuniya Kensetsu, based in Kamisu, Ibaraki Prefecture. A 43 year old employee from the construction firm's Chiba office and a 23 year old worker on the tugboat towing the crane, said that they had carried out dredging work upstream from where the accident occurred in the past, admitting that they were aware of the overhead cables.

When questioned over why the crane’s boom was raised, they said, "In order to increase efficiency, we were raising the boom of the crane before reaching the work area".

Police are investigating the company's work and shipping records.
In a press conference yesterday, Mikuniya Kensetsu's president and chairman apologized for the accident, saying they would take appropriate measures to compensate Tokyo Electric Power Co. over the accident.

Officials also revealed that the firm had caused a similar accident on a river in Ibaraki Prefecture in March 1999. After that accident, an order was given to include the warning "beware of power cables" in manuals produced for each construction project, but the warning was not listed in the manual produced for this latest job.

Police had suspected that the workers knew about the power cables, but raised the crane’s boom without thinking, leading to the accident. They are now considering a criminal case against those involved, accusing them of damaging property and violating the Electric Utility Law.