A leading expert on crane collapses describes a Nov. 27 accident at a World Cup soccer stadium under construction in Brazil as "highly unusual" after an initial assessment of damage photos.
"It is unusual because the boom snapped off the car body," says Jim Wiethorn, a forensic specialist at Haag Engineering, Sugar Land, Texas. "The boom and mast are intact but the pins [which hold the boom to the crane] are gone. All the holes are there and not damaged, yet the boom is gone."