Two cranes reportedly collided on an Austin, Texas construction site on Wednesday morning, leaving at least 22 people injured. Sixteen of those victims were transported to hospitals, all with non-life-threatening injuries, according to a report by CNN. The others did not need immediate hospitalization.
Austin-Travis County Emergency Medical Services tallied 22 injures in Wednesday’s accident. Capt. Darren Noak called the incident a “crane vs. crane incident that occurred at a construction site.” So far, further details are scarce, but Noak said that it appears everyone injured was an employee at the construction site. A tweet from ATCEMS said that emergency crews were trying to reach the crane operator, but Noak noted there was no rescue operation needed.
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It took eight ambulances to respond to the scene appropriately, and one crane operator was reportedly still at the site after the accident. The ordeal remains under investigation, according to Noak.
The accident was reported at 10:38 a.m. CT, and took place northeast of Austin, in the Mueller community. The surrounding area includes a park, a children’s hospital, a shopping center, and an apartment complex, but the crash impacted none of these areas.
“I heard a crash. It was like pipes falling,” said Diane Stewart, a local woman who spoke to The Associated Press. “The police, first-responders were here in minutes.
Noak said that most of the injuries in this accident came when workers hurried to scramble out of the way of the impact and potentially falling materials. As for the crane operator, he remained in the crane cabin about 150 feet above the ground for over an hour after the crash, and bystanders feared that the crane looked damaged. Fire Department Capt. Mark Bridge reassured them.
“He’s fine,” Bridge said. “There’s no danger to him.”
Meuller is a rapidly growing neighborhood thanks to its close proximity to the downtown area of Austin. It is bustling with the construction of retail, office and residential spaces, even with the coronavirus pandemic impacting working conditions. It is still not clear what the site of the crash is intended to be when it is finished, or how this accident will impact progress. There is also no word on whether this will cause delays on other projects in the Mueller area.
