Fire Dept. officials say seven workers were injured when the 170-ft-long boom of a mobile crane fell on the two-story-high frame of an apartment building under construction off the East River in Long Island City, Queens. The accident happened around 2:20 p.m. on Jan. 9th.

I ran over to the site today and heard one unhurt worker say, "All I heard was a snap and it came down." He says he was on the deck of the building at the time of the collapse.

A spokesman for the city's Dept. of Buildings says the crane is owned by New York Crane, which is owned by James Lomma. He was the owner of a tower crane that collapsed in Manhattan in 2008 and was acquitted of criminal charges last year related to that accident.

I overheard the crane operator being interviewed by city investigators. He told them that he saw the boom as it fell and that it didn't hit any other structures.


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Mark Ferran, deputy fire chief, says one worker has a broken bone and three were taken away from the jobsite to the hospital. The city's Buildings Dept. will continue to investigate.

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