One dead in New York crane collapse

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A large crane collapsed in New YorkCity on Friday, killing one person and damaging an apartmentbuilding on Manhattan's Upper East Side -- a day after cityofficials investigated the crane's operations.

The crane operator died in the collapse shortly after 8a.m. EDT (1 p.m. British time), two more construction workerswere seriously injured and a pedestrian received minorinjuries, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and police said.

Bloomberg said the top section of the crane broke off andsmashed into an apartment building called The Electra, which ismore than 20 floors high, on 91st Street and First Avenue.

"We don't know why it snapped off and we will certainly doan investigation," he said.

The crane was being used to build a 32-story apartmentbuilding across the street. Bloomberg said seven buildings hadbeen evacuated while the stability of the crane section stillstanding was checked.

Television footage showed part of the crane in a crumpledmess in the street and a corner apartment at the top of TheElectra that had been demolished. Balconies had also beenripped from apartments on The Electra as the crane fell.

New York City's Department of Buildings visited the site onThursday after receiving a complaint about the crane hoistingover the street, which is a building code violation, saidacting Buildings Commissioner Robert LiMandri.

"Yesterday's investigation was about an inspection abouthoisting over the street, not about the crane and the way itwas installed," LiMandri said.

The crane, owned by New York Crane Corp., was being used byDeMatteis Organizations to build the Azure apartmentbuilding,LiMandri said. The company is also constructing thenew U.S. mission to the United Nations across the road from theU.N. headquarters.

In March, a giant crane fell and crushed a residentialbuilding in midtown Manhattan, killing seven people andinjuring more than 10 others. In October, a crane dropped acontainer of debris from the 53rd floor of a skyscraper nearTimes Square, injuring several people.

Bloomberg told local radio on Friday that public safety wastop priority and that the city would not "tolerate any rate ofaccidents higher than it has to be."

"This is just unacceptable and we have got to figure outwhat happened here," he said. "The public walking by shouldn'tbe at risk."

(Additional reporting by Marcy Nicholson, editing by JackieFrank)

(Writing by Michelle Nichols, editing by Vicki Allen)