At least 36 people were killed and three others injured when a 600-ton gantry crane collapsed suddenly while being elevated in a Shanghai shipyard at 8 am Tuesday.
The injured have been hospitalized in Shanghai Dongfang Hospital after receiving sophisticated neuro-surgical operations.
When the new 130-meter long crane collapsed, more than 30 employees were working in a 50-meter-high square column, said witnesses.
Nine of the casualties were senior experts, contracted technological supervisors from Shanghai's Tongji University, including two post-doctorates, an associate professor and two engineers.
One casualty was a technician from a local elevator company who was in charge of the lift inside the 80-meter-high rigid frame.
The other six deaths were workers from Shanghai Power Construction Engineering Company, which supervises the project's concrete installation.
The lifting operation began at 10 am on July 16 and by the end of that day, the beam had been elevated to 47 meters.
Since 7:25 am Tuesday, workers resumed their positions and were expected to finish the lifting operation, reaching the designed height of 80 meters Wednesday.
But they found one of the cables which are used to support the rigid frame got unwelcomely close to the beam.
A misinstruction or mis-operation (which is still unknown) apparently let the cables go before the frame collapsed to one side at 7:55 am, followed by the dropping of the beam -- which sounded like an earthquake, according to a witness from the shipyard.
Xinhua quoted a company worker as saying: "I heard some loud thundering noise soon after I arrived at my office in the morning and then saw the giant crane sloping slowly. The workers were running away quickly, but it was still too late for those working in the column to flee."
Huang Ju, the Shanghai Party Secretary, and other government officials raced to the site of the accident and directed rescue efforts.
The rescue efforts ended temporarily at 5 pm Tuesday, with the total number of victims estimated to be 39. In the aftermath of the disaster, the cause remains under investigation, said the spokesman at the shipyard.
(China Daily 07/18/2001)
