MIAMI – A worker fell to his death and three others were injured Thursday afternoon after part of a crane fell on a Fort Lauderdale bridge.
It happened at around 4:30 p.m. on the SE 3rd Avenue bridge in downtown, near Las Olas Boulevard.
Images from Chopper 4 showed part of the metal structure which ended up on top of a black vehicle, almost splitting it in half. A second vehicle stuck on the bridge, a Tesla, showed visible front-end damage.
Mark Cerezin, the driver of the Tesla said, “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.”
“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.”
The Fort Lauderdale resident says he got out of his car and saw a lady who was bleeding. Cerezin tells us he took off his shirt and put compression to help her.
“My heart goes out… I mean, to this person who lost their life and their loved ones… I mean, that could have been me.”
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.
The extent of the injuries of the two people who were taken to Broward General is unknown and the identity of the man killed in the accident has not yet been released.
Realtor Jason Taub lives close by and took video of the piece of crane being lifted to a 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.”
Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue Chief Stephen Gollan held a press conference to update the media on what took place. He said the only fatality was a worker who fell along with part of the crane.
Two people were rushed to the hospital and were said to be in stable condition, another refused to be treated.
Gollan said a platform holding equipment failed and fell onto the bridge below.
“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.”
“The New River is closed in both directions to all marine traffic. The section of the crane that fell did impact the bridge, leaving a hole. So, until such time as the structural integrity of the bridge can be determined, this roadway will be closed,” he added.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and the Fort Lauderdale Police Department are investigating this incident.