No injuries were reported after a mobile crane fell onto a five-story, mixed-use building under construction in the Dorchester neighborhood of Boston.
The Boston Fire Dept. responded to the latest in a spate of construction accidents in and around Boston on July 26 at the corner of Dorchester Avenue and East Cottage Street. Brian Alkins, a spokesperson for the fire department, told the Boston Herald that it’s unclear what caused the crane to tip over but noted that it was extended about 75 ft in the air lifting construction materials.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) responded to the scene but did not provide further information.
The crane operator told 7News' Kimberly Bookman that he “thought he was gonna die." All other workers at the project who were inside of the building at the time of the incident managed to successfully escape.
CSRE Management, the project's owner, did not respond to ENR's request for comment.
The crane will need to be cut from the damaged structure it’s affixed to before it can be positioned upright and fully removed, according to fire department officials. To aid the effort, several additional cranes arrived on site late on the afternoon of July 27.
When completed, the nearly 44,000-sq-ft building at 951-959A Dorchester Ave. will include 38 residential units on the upper floors, 26 parking spaces and ground-floor retail space for the 162-year-old Dorchester Market, according to media reports.