Worker killed after part of crane falls on Florida bridge
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — A construction worker is dead and two people were injured after a portion of a crane dropped from several hundred feet in the air during rush hour Thursday, down onto the Southeast Third Avenue bridge over the New River in downtown Fort Lauderdale, fire rescue officials said.
Workers at the building were in the process of “stepping the crane,” Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue Chief Stephen Gollan said at an evening news conference, where they add sections to the tower crane to elevate it as the under-construction building grows taller.
Gollan said a platform that held equipment failed, sending the items from the platform down onto the bridge about 4:30 p.m. The crane itself did not experience the failure, he said.
The construction worker who died “had fallen with the load off of the side of the building,” Gollan said.
Two cars could be seen on the drawbridge, one of which was partly crushed by the portion of the crane that fell. The second car appeared to be damaged.
Traffic was moving in both north and south
lanes of the drawbridge when the portion fell down, Gollan said. Three people in total were injured, and two of them were taken to Broward Health Medical Center in stable condition.
One of the two people hospitalized had minor injuries, Gollan said. The third person injured was not taken to the hospital.
Southeast Third Avenue is closed in both directions, city officials said in a post on X. Drivers are urged to avoid the area from Broward Boulevard south.
The crane’s fall caused a hole in the drawbridge,
Gollan said. The drawbridge is closed to all car and boat traffic until officials can determine if it is structurally safe. It is unclear when it will reopen, Gollan said.
The Florida Department of Transportation is investigating, along with Fort Lauderdale Police. The incident did not affect any other buildings surrounding the one under construction and “are completely safe,” Gollan said.
Some of the busiest traffic hours in downtown Fort Lauderdale are from 4 p.m. to 6:30 p.m., Gollan said, noting “this could have been a whole lot
worse” with the amount of traffic usually seen in the area.
Occupational Safety and Health Administration officials were on the way to the scene shortly before 6 p.m. U.S. Coast Guard officials will also respond, Gollan said.
Fort Lauderdale Police Chief Bill Schultz said his department will investigate the death of the worker.
“Any accident like this is tragic, any loss of life is tragic ... We are lucky that there were not more injuries or fatalities,” Schultz said.