‘Miracle’ escape from crane that killed great aunt

A MAN has told of his “miracle” escape after a crane collapsed onto his house in east London, killing his 85-year-old great aunt.

June Harvey died while others were injured, including a construction worker who is in a critical condition in hospital, on Wednesday afternoon.

Almost 100 people have been evacuated from their homes after the 20-metre crane fell on a site where flats were being constructed, and crashed into two terraced houses in Compton Close, Bow.

Sam Atkinson, 28, who lived with Ms Harvey, along with his mother Jacqueline Atkinson, 63, and their dog, told the PA news agency: “The noise was indescribable. It was just so loud. I thought it was a plane crash or the bath had fallen through.

“As I looked around, the whole house was destroyed and crumbling around me. I was screaming for my mum to check she was OK and my great aunt.

“As I tried to get up the whole stairs were completely blocked off with rubble. I tried to push through it, but it was just impossible.”

Mr Atkinson said he ran out of the house before rescuing his mother. “It’s just a miracle that we’re alive. “It was lucky it didn’t come straight through and crush me, crush my mum. She was about a metre away from where my aunt was. They were sorting out clothes in one of the bedrooms. They were really close.”

He paid tribute to Ms Harvey as a “very caring woman, who was “loyal to her family”.

“We are devastated by our loss. We are extremely traumatised, extremely shocked. The last thing you ever think is going to happen is a crane coming through your roof.”