Two of the people who died were in the crane and two were in vehicles on the ground. Three people – including a four-month-old girl – were taken with non-life threatening injuries to hospital.
The accident happened at Fairview Avenue and Mercer Street, where the crane fell from the roof of the building and damaged a total of six vehicles. Seattle Fire Crews immediately began stabilizing the crane and vehicles involved while triaging the victims of the crash. Firefighters searched the building and evacuated the people in the building and impacted area.
The collapse happened during disassembly of the tower crane. An investigation into the cause of the crane failure is being conducted by Washington State Department of Labor & Industries. It said that four companies would be involved in the investigation: GLY Construction, the general contractor on the building; Morrow Equipment, which owned the Liebherr crane; Northwest Tower Crane Service, which was disassembling it at time of collapse; and Omega Rigging & Machinery Moving, whose mobile crane was being used to lower sections.
The city’s Department of Transportation said that Vulcan and GLY contractor crews continue to work to clear the debris and assess the safety of the buildings struck by the collapsing crane while its own crews have been working to assess damage to what is one of Seattle’s busiest roads.
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