17.11.2009

Prison sentences for fatal crane accident

A court in Taiwan has given prison sentences to six people held responsible for a fatal crane accident in April of this year.

The Taipei District Court handed down prison sentences ranging from eight to 10 months for those involved in the accident that killed three Chinese tourists when the tower crane’s jib hit their bus.

On the afternoon of April 24, the jib fell from the 37th floor of a high rise construction in Taipei's Xinyi District, landing on the back of a tour bus carrying 25 tourists from Guangdong Province of China.
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Prosecutors said that the luffing jib tower crane had a maximum capacity at its boom length and radius of 3.2 tonnes and yet was lifting a total of five tonnes.

In addition, the crane was being operated in high winds and the construction company had not cordoned-off the area below the lift.

The district court found Oriental Rigging and Equipment Corp’s engineer Chueh Ti-ti and five other employees, including the team leader, a crane operator and three other men from the crane operations team, guilty of causing death by occupational negligence.

The judgment said the six showed remorse for their crimes and were unlikely to repeat such negligence and so received two years probation. The sentences can also be appealed.