Construction crane segment collapses onto downtown Florida bridge

A section of a construction crane collapsed onto a downtown Fort Lauderdale bridge, where it hit two cars on the afternoon of Thursday, April 4, 2024.

Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue (FLFR) released a statement on Facebook, according to which during the process of “stepping the crane”, that was being used for the construction of a nearby high-rise building, a large section fell onto the bridge.

It has also been made known that FLFR units were called to the scene, located at the Southeast 3rd Avenue Bridge, over the New River, at around 4:30 p.m., where they searched the under-construction building floor by floor and secured the area around the collapsed crane.

The collapsed section collided with two cars on the bridge and ended up resting on top of one of them.

Three people were injured in the crash, and two of them were taken to the hospital in stable condition.

In addition to this, Fort Lauderdale Fire Chief, Stephen Gollan, said that a worker also lost his life in the accident by falling from the building with the crane segment. Police later identified the victim as 27-year-old Jorge De La Torre.

Gollan also said that the accident was due to a platform becoming unstable while carrying the large crane piece.

The bridge underwent structural assessment and reopened on the evening of the same day.

Finally, an investigation into the causes of the accident is underway by the Fort Lauderdale Police Department in collaboration with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).