A construction worker was crushed to death when a giant refrigeration unit fell from a crane at Bronx-Lebanon Medical Center this morning, authorities said.
Witnesses said the boom of the crane hoisting the boxed refrigeration unit snapped at about 10:50 a.m. outside the hospital, at 1650 Grand Concourse.
The shipping container-sized unit fell to the sidewalk, crushing the worker beneath it.
The refrigerator “just fell straight down on him,” said witness Joseph Contreras, 22. “He was just flat beneath it. You couldn’t see him at all.”
“It was very loud — it sounded like thunder and it shook the building,” said Stephanie Dominguez, 19, a student who lives on the Grand Concourse across the street from the hospital.
“I ran to the window and saw five people scrambling and yelling,” Dominguez said.
“One man went between the wall and blue box and started yelling, ‘I can see him! I can see him! We have to get the ambulance!’ ”
The construction worker was dead on arrival at the hospital emergency room, authorities said.