Crane malfunctions, drops barge and smashes boat in Boston Harbor
BOSTON - A crane moving a barge suddenly malfunctioned Thursday morning at the Boston Harbor Shipyard and Marina in East Boston.
Rigging snapped
The Boston Fire Department told WBZ-TV the crane was putting up a barge around 11 a.m. when the rigging suddenly snapped. The barge crushed part of a dock and a boat as it fell into the water. Witnesses said the impact shook the ground beneath them and startled those working nearby.
"A big, huge boom and a big wave washed through the marina," said Chris Basile, who said it sounded like a bomb going off.
Boston Fire Commissioner Paul Burke said no one was hurt and everyone at the scene was accounted for.
"The crane is secured in four locations so they could lift it up and one of the locations let go and that's how it fell. So, it had four straps holding it in to move it into its location. One of the straps let go. It collapsed into the water, doing damage to the crane that was lifting it at the time," Burke told reporters.
"It's not secure. We're keeping everybody away until we get another crane in that can secure it, remove it, put it in the right location, get it off the existing crane, because it's on the crane that was initially moving it."
Divers brought in as precaution
Divers were brought in as a precaution.
"That's standard procedure. When there's something around the water, we activate the dive team. Our marine unit, we have several boats that would come right over. Obviously, we don't know if there is somebody in the boat. Somebody on the pier. Someone in the crane. That's all we got was a pier that collapsed into the ocean, so we always err on the side of caution and send everybody that deals with marine incidents," Burke said.
Authorities are now trying to contain fuel that spilled into the harbor.
"Somebody could've been killed," said Basile. "That was very fortunate but they've got a mess to clean up."
The shipyard on Marginal Street is a repair facility that offers short and long-term storage for boats of all sizes, according to its website. The marina is also known for its views of the Boston skyline.