26.09.2006

Two die, 100 evacuated as crane collapses

A 50 metre high tower crane collapsed this evening in Battersea south west London killing the driver along with a man who was working on his car in the street where part of the crane came down.
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The top of the crane parted at the slew bearing

Up to 100 residents of the apartment blocks have been evacuated and told this evening that they cannot return to their homes as the crane is still unsafe and could fall on to their homes.

Local reports are still not clear about what happened, it seems that the slew bearing broke away from the tower allowing the jib, back mast and counterweight to fall to the ground, part of structure crashed into the block of flats and the jib then came down in the road. The driver was thrown from his cab and landed on top of a car in the street.

The cranes jib then landed on a man washing his car. A third person was injured and taken to hospital The crane, which was on hire from Falcon crane was working on a new housing project by house builder Barratt.

The Health and Safety Executive is contnuing to investigate this evening in order to discover why the crane collapsed.