OSHA investigating how part of crane fell on Fort Lauderdale bridge killing one, injuring two
FORT LAUDERDALE - Two people who were injured Thursday after part of a construction crane came crashing down on a downtown Fort Lauderdale bridge have been released from the hospital.
It happened during rush hour on the SE 3rd Avenue bridge as construction crews worked on a high rise.
"It's my understanding from the construction company that they were doing a process at the time called stepping the crane. It was not the crane per se that actually failed. It was a platform that they had equipment staged on that had failed at the time of the incident and those items fell from the building down onto the bridge below," said Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue Chief Stephen Gollan.
The stepping process involves adding a section to increase the crane's height. In this case, it appears to have come loose and fell. The crane itself remained secured to the building.
A construction worker who fell with the crane piece died. He's been identified as 27-year-old Jorge De La Torre. On Friday, his family went to the construction site to collect his belongings.
"I was driving over the 3rd Avenue Bridge and I felt some type of compression, and I looked up and I saw this big, huge piece of blue metal coming down and I slammed on the brakes and then it hit the front of my car," said Mark Cerezin who was driving a Tesla. "It was like slow motion, then that piece of metal bounced in the air and then went to the right and landed on another car. I couldn't believe that I was still alive."
Part of the metal structure ended up on top of a black vehicle, almost splitting it in half. Cerezin's Tesla had significant front-end damage.
Cerezin, a Fort Lauderdale resident, said he got out of his car and helped a lady who was bleeding.
"My heart goes out, I mean, to this person who lost their life and to their loved ones, I mean, that could have been me," said Cerezin.
Jennifer Parent lives across the street from the building under construction. She said there is construction noise every day but this was different.
"I heard a blood-curdling scream and I knew something quite devastating had happened," she said.
Valeriia Becher took video moments after part of the crane fell. She was in a car with her 6-year-old daughter, her boyfriend and her sister. She says they were just meters away from where it happened.
"We saw like in a movie, like a horror movie we seen this - we're watching this construction detail just falling like paper," Becher said.
She said a car near her was struck by part of the crane and that her boyfriend ran over to help.
"Life is very short and the only thing you need to do now is live like today - this very moment," said Becher.
Realtor Jason Taub, who lives close by, took a video of the piece of crane being lifted to the platform on a New River apartment.
Seconds later, the piece fell onto the bridge.
"The moment it hit, you could hear screams. It's hard to get out of your head," he said.
Overnight, crews removed the section of the crane from the road and used a metal plate to patch up the hole it had made on impact. The road was then reopened to traffic.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), the Florida Department of Transportation, and Fort Lauderdale police are investigating to determine what went wrong.
KAST Construction holds the permit to the $87.9 million dollar project site at 333 North New River Drive where the crane appears to be located, according to city records. It's a 43-story apartment building. It's unclear if KAST or a subcontractor was overseeing the crane operations at the site, according to CBS News Miami partner The Miami Herald.
KAST has settled a handful of lawsuits involving allegations of negligence and injury over the last few years, according to the Herald.