STEEL TRAP: Seven workers were injured yesterday when this crane collapsed in Long Island City. Rescuers rushed to free several laborers from beneath the skeleton. (
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Workers scrambled for their lives yesterday as a crane collapsed and injured seven laborers at a luxury-housing development behind the “Pepsi-Cola” sign on the Queens waterfront.
“I heard the cables on the crane popping and I ran as I fast as I could,” said Russell Roberson, 31, a worker at the massive EastCoast development in Long Island City just south of the 59th Street Bridge.
The crane is owned by New York Crane, one of the biggest crane companies in the region and the owner of the rig that in 2008 collapsed on East 91st Street in Manhattan, killing two.
In yesterday’s collapse, “it just fell straight down. A couple of guys got trapped under the debris,” Roberson said. “You could hear their screaming and yelling and crying for help.”
The 383-foot-tall crane buckled while hoisting a load of lumber at 2:30 p.m. at the site of a planned 26-story tower, raining debris on construction crews and trapping a handful of workers beneath the skeletal boom.
None of the injuries was life-threatening, according to FDNY paramedics. One worker suffered a broken leg.
The crane operator was questioned by police, officials said, and investigators are focusing on his actions in the moments before the collapse.
“I saw the lumber they were lifting off my truck sway and then fall to the ground,” said Don Snook, 56, a driver for Feldman Lumber. “As it was falling I ducked under the cab of my truck. When I got out the scene was just chaos.”
Last year the owner of New York Crane, James Lomma, was acquitted of manslaughter in the 2008 collapse, although an employee pleaded guilty to criminally negligent homicide.
The 1992-model Manitiwoc tractor crane in yesterday’s accident at 46th Avenue and Center Boulevard was being leased by Cross Country Construction of Elmsford, Westchester.
Neither company returned calls for comment.
In October, the Buildings Department cited EastCoast developer TF Cornerstone for failure to properly “safeguard all persons and property” at the project, records show.
The development bills itself as “modern meets Bohemian” and studio-apartment rentals start at $2,195, according to its Web site.
“We are cooperating fully with all relevant authorities,” said TF spokesman John Marino.
“I can’t believe this is my first day on the job,” sighed carpenter Preston White, 48. “I was standing next to a co-worker and told him ‘I’m getting too old for this work.’ Then I hear a pop and the crane fell.”
Additional reporting by Jessica Simeone