Abu Dhabi: A second tower crane has collapsed in the country in as many days, said authorities in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday.
Police confirmed the incident occurred at 9.10am on Monday when the construction tower crane tumbled to the ground crushing five parked vehicles below.
There were no fatalities and only one report of minor injuries by an unidentified man who barely got out from under the falling steel assembly to safety. He was standing next one of the cars damaged in the incident.
The Abu Dhabi tower crane crash follows a similar construction crane collapse in Sharjah on Saturday which killed one and injured another.
Abu Dhabi Police said the Monday incident happened along Hamdan Street in Al Zahiyah, also known as Tourist Club Area.
Ground construction crew workers told Gulf News that the tower crane was in the process of being lifted by a smaller, much lighter mobile crane when the incident happened.
A labourer who works at the same construction site where the incident took place said the mobile crane had a capacity of 20 tonnes, while the tower crane and its boom was much heavier.
According to the labourer, when the mobile crane was lifting the tower crane, it couldn’t hold the heavy weight and the mobile truck flipped over and the larger tower crane came tumbling down.
Crane companies reached on Tuesday in the UAE declined to speak to the collapse.
An official who works at a training centre in UAE that offers crane operators certificates and safety training said he was surprised by the two crane incidents in such a short time because operators must have strict training under the laws.
In the previous Sharjah crane crash on Saturday, one person died and another 26-year-old Pakistani construction worker, Farsat Khan, sustained serious head injuries and had multiple fractures in different parts of his body.
The Sharjah incident took place at around 5.30pm on Saturday at a construction site in Al Nahda leading to the death of a 31-year-old Sri Lankan worker Mohammad Wafa Aldin, while the injured worker was transferred to Al Qasimi Hospital and was admitted in the intensive care unit (ICU), where he continues to receive treatment.
The injured worker was transferred to Al Qasimi Hospital and was admitted in the intensive care unit (ICU), where he continues to receive treatment.
Following the fatal crane collapse, Sharjah Police detained senior managers of the construction company operating on the site, while several employees who were present at the site when the accident happened were summoned for questioning as the investigators are trying to piece together the moments leading to the tragic accident.
A police official told Gulf News that senior managers on the Sharjah roject have serious questions to answer, as work on the site has been suspended pending further investigation.
The Sharjah incident, meanwhile, is being probed by Sharjah Municipality.
Seven vehicles crushed after a crane fell on them in Abu Dhabi on Monday, police said on Tuesday.
The operations room of Abu Dhabi Police received a call on Monday for falling of a crane and immediately it alerted teams of civil defence, ambulance and police patrol officials to reach the scene.
Brigadier General Mohammad Mayouf Al Ketbi, director general of Abu Dhabi civil defence said, the crane fall damaged seven vehicles which were parked on the site.
He asked construction and real estate companies to provide all safety equipment on the construction sites and ensure maintenance of cranes.
Past collapses
The latest two crane collapses in Sharjah and Abu Dhabi come after a string of similar crane breakdowns in recent years.
In February 2016, six workers suffered serious injuries after a crane collapsed on them at a construction site in Sharjah and were transported to hospital.
Sharjah Police detained a number of officials of a company following the tragic incident that took place in Muwaileh area of Sharjah at the time.
In October 2013, three workers died and another five were injured in a crane collapse at The Address The Boulevard when a faulty elevator broke down. Police said at the time the elevator became unattached and contributed to the collapse.
In July 2011, a crane collapsed at the corner of Salam and Hamdan streets in Abu Dhabi prompting a report by the municipality which concluded that an old, defective crane used on the worksite was not in compliance.
