Cars smashed as crane collapses in Abu Dhabi city
A crane collapsed in the city of Abu Dhabi on Monday, smashing into seven cars.
The accident happened at about 8.30am at a tower block under construction next to Al Salama Hospital in Al Zahiyah area, formerly known as Tourist Club.
A small mobile crane was dismantling the boom of a larger tower crane, witnesses said. But it was too heavy for the mobile crane to lift and it keeled over.
The witnesses, who did not wish to be named, said the crane crashed on top of a row of parked cars.
They were at work in a nearby building and arrived at the scene shortly after the accident occurred.
Abu Dhabi Civil Defence said yesterday there were no injuries. Police and medics arrived swiftly and the mobile crane was later removed.
As of 3.30pm yesterday, two damaged cars were still at the scene. The windscreens were smashed, with significant damage to the bonnets, engines and roofs. The rear window of one car was also smashed in.
Concrete paving was stained with leaked diesel from the crane that keeled over, and parts of the larger tower crane were visible on the ground, behind construction hoardings.
Brig Gen Mohammed Al Ketbi, general manager of Abu Dhabi Civil Defence, urged construction companies and consultants to ensure safety measures are in place for workers and to properly maintain cranes at all times.
Metac is the contractor working on the tower block but an official at the site said a different company was responsible for dismantling and moving the cranes.
Work continued as normal yesterday when The National visited the site.
In a separate incident, a worker died after a crane collapsed at a construction site in Sharjah on Saturday.