By Joan Gralla
NEW YORK (Reuters) - A large crane collapsed in New YorkCity on Friday, killing two people and damaging an apartmentbuilding on Manhattan's Upper East Side -- a day after cityofficials investigated the crane's operations.
The crane operator and another construction worker died inthe collapse shortly after 8 a.m. EDT (1 p.m. British time), athird worker was seriously injured and a pedestrian receivedminor injuries, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and policesaid.
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.
"UNACCEPTABLE"
The crane, owned by New York Crane Corp, was being used byDeMatteis Organizations to build the Azure apartment building,LiMandri said. The company is also building the U.S. mission tothe United Nations across the road from the U.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.
The accidents could further dampen the multibillion-dollarManhattan real estate industry, which already is suffering adownturn from the credit crisis.
"We're certainly on the downside of a cycle, and this iscertainly going to have a negative impact," said attorneyJeffrey Reich, a partner at Wolf Haldenstein, which representsNew York developers.
New building regulations added as a result of the latestcrane accident could increase the time it takes to build, hesaid. Following the March accident all tower cranes wereinspected and the buildings department said an inspector had tobe on-site whenever a tower crane was raised or lowered.
After Friday's accident the District of Columbia said itwould do emergency inspections of about 40 cranes in its area.
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," he said. "The public walkingby shouldn't be at risk."
(Additional reporting by Marcy Nicholson and Ilaina Jonas,writing by Michelle Nichols, editing by Jackie Frank)