Image credit: Anthony Behar/Getty Images

A 200-foot crane collapsed on the Upper East Side of Manhattan Friday morning. The New York Fire Department says it has pulled a number of people out of the wreckage.

It happened just after 8:00 a.m. on 91st Street and First Avenue.

Two construction workers have lost their lives in this accident, the second of its type in two and half months. The first occurred in March on Manhattan’s east side, killing seven people. At least three others have been injured. Hundreds of firefighters and officials from the Office of Emergency Management were on the scene working to search for other victims. Air inflation devices were mobilized to help lift some of the heavy debris.

“This is totally mind blowing,” Manhattan borough President Scott Stringer told CBS 2. “It looks like a bomb exploded in Manhattan. It’s just a total tragedy.”

Rescue units appeared to have found another victim in the rubble, bringing a backboard into the rubble to pull out the person, believed to be a survivor.

A Duane Reade pharmacy at the bottom of the building sustained severe damage from the collapse, though it’s not known how many people were inside at the time.

“This never used to happen, and now it happens all the time,” Stringer said.

Categories: On the Fire Side, Special Report, Video
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