Construction worker killed as crane crashes down on Fort Lauderdale bridge

A construction worker has been killed and three other people have been injured after a portion of a crane fell onto a Fort Lauderdale bridge on Thursday afternoon.

The construction crew was working on the development of a 43-story apartment building to serve mostly senior residents near the Southeast 3rd Avenue Bridge over the New River in Florida, reported NBC6.

At around 4.30pm on Thursday, they were in the process of “stepping the crane” – where sections are added to increase the crane’s height – when a platform fell from the construction site along with parts of the crane, crashing down onto the bridge below.

Fort Lauderdale fire officials said that the accident sent one construction worker falling to their death below. The worker, who suffered fatal injuries in the fall, has not yet been named by officials.

A section of it struck the bridge below during a time of heavy traffic – crushing a car and leaving a hole in the bridge.

Two people in vehicles on the bridge were transported to the hospital with injuries. One person was in a stable condition, while another suffered minor injuries. A third person also refused treatment on scene.

“It was not the crane per se that actually failed. It was a platform that they had equipment staged on that had failed at the time of the incident and those items fell from the building down onto the bridge below,” Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue Chief Stephen Gollan said at a press conference.

Officials said it is currently unclear what exactly caused the crane piece to fall but an investigation is now under way.

Mark Cerezin was driving in his Tesla over the bridge when the accident unfolded. He told NBC6 that a piece of the crane bounced off his car and landed on the vehicle next to him.

“I was driving, and I felt a compression, and I looked up and I saw the blue structure coming down, and I slammed on my brakes,” he said.

“It sheared off the front of my Tesla, and all the airbags went off – and I’m very lucky to be alive.”

Other witnesses described the incident as “terrifying” and “shocking”.

Another Fort Lauderdale resident, Tony Perez, told NBC News that he was coming home from work when he saw the crane falling “from the sky”.

“I just look out the window, and I see a crane coming from the sky, and I’m like, this is crazy; it’s really happening,” he told NBC6.

“And then boom, a loud, crashing sound, and it landed right on this car. It was like, fix or six cars in front of me, so I was just like, ‘oh my God, it could’ve been me.”

Valeriia Becher, who was in the car with her six-year-old daughter, her boyfriend and her sister, said they were just metres away from where the part of the crane fell, telling CBS News that it was like witnessing a “horror movie”.

Following the crash, the river was closed both ways to marine traffic, as well as the road on the bridge itself while authorities work to determine its structural integrity and any need for repairs. Officials have deemed the surrounding buildings of the construction site safe.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration will be leading the investigation into the matter.

This tragic incident comes just over a week after six construction workers were killed after a container ship crashed into a bridge in Baltimore.