Giant steel girders collapse at World Trade Center site; no injuries

The long awaited and often delayed rebuilding process at the World Trade Center site in New York City nearly took a dark turn Thursday morning after several tons of steel unexpectedly came crashing down onto a construction site. Amazingly, no one was hurt in the accident.

According to Gothamist, the 60 foot steel girders fell 40 stories before landing on top of a loading truck, which thankfully was unoccupied at the time. Instagram user "Ddistant" snapped a shot of the incident and posted it to his account. In the photo, several construction workers can be seen standing near the damaged truck. The steel girders collapsed after a cable on a crane lifting them snapped, CNN reports.

"It's a miracle," steamfitter Mark Sherank, 45, told the New York Daily News. "I looked outside I saw the truck it's a pancake now. A noise like that, you know something's wrong."

Once completed, the 72-story building, which will face the World Trade Center memorial park, according to CNN. A posting from the Twitter account Breaking911 originally stated that one person was injured in the crash. However, the Tishman construction company later told the AP that no one was hurt in the incident.

While Tishman did not release official numbers, construction workers at the site tell the NYDN they estimate the girders weighed between 30,000 and 40,000 pounds each.

Tishman, the local fire department and the Port Authority, which owns the site, are now carrying out a joint investigation. The AP also reported that while the accident did not cause any accidents, it did result in several subway disruptions for about an hour and briefly halted construction at the WTC site.

[Via The Atlantic]

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