Death toll climbs to 7 in NYC crane collapse

BEIJING, March 18 (Xinhuanet) -- The bodies of a woman and two construction workers were recovered Monday at the scene of a crane collapse in New York that crushed a town house Saturday, bringing the death toll to seven.

The woman had been visiting from Miami to celebrate St. Patrick's Day and see a friend who lived in the town house, said John LaGreco, owner of Fubar, a saloon on the ground floor of the town house. The woman was in her friend's second-floor apartment at the time of the accident. Her friend was rescued.

The crane rose 19 stories and was attached to an apartment tower under construction when it broke away Saturday and toppled onto buildings as far as a block away. Workers had managed to move large pieces of the crane away by Monday.

Twenty-four others were injured, including 11 first responders. Eight people remained hospitalized, officials said.

Officials were investigating whether human or mechanical error led to the construction-site accident, which the mayor described as among the city's worst. City officials said the broken crane passed inspection Friday.

But neighborhood residents and a Manhattan borough official raised concerns about city inspections at the apartment tower.

Retired ironworker Kerry Walker, who with his wife lived in the top-floor apartment of the four-story town house and left minutes before the collapse, had complained that the crane appeared dangerously unstable, his stepson said.

"He knows all about cranes and said this one had no braces, everything was too minimal," John Viscardi said. "He told one friend on the phone that 'if you don't hear from me, it's because the crane fell on my house.'"

(Agencies)

NEW YORK, March 15 (Xinhua) -- A construction crane snapped Saturday from a 25-story building in Manhattan, killing at least four people and injuring many others, New York City authorities said.

All four known deaths were of construction workers at the site and some of the injured are in serious or critical condition, Mayor Michael Bloomberg told a press conference.