INVESTIGATIONS WERE launched yesterday into how a 44-metre tall tower crane fell onto Phinikoudes promenade on Wednesday night in stormy weather, killing a 65-year-old lady, injuring three others and damaging five cars.
Larnaca mayor Andreas Louroudjiatis, who held an emergency session of the municipal council yesterday, said he has requested an investigation from the labour inspection department, with the help of the communications ministry’s electromechanical services, in addition to the police investigation and the municipality’s own internal inquiry.
“We really want to be fully transparent. We’re seeking to clarify the circumstances under which this unfortunate event took place,” said Louroudjiatis. The crane was part of a construction site managed by a contractor hired by the municipality to build an extra two floors on top of the town hall situated on Phinikoudes Avenue.
“We have given instructions to the contractor to cooperate fully with the relevant authorities and with the manufacturing company (of the crane). Whatever has to be done shall be done quickly, decisively and with transparency,” said the mayor.
Louroudjiatis said the local council appointed a municipal official yesterday to be responsible for communicating with those who either suffered injury or material damage, and provide any assistance needed for them to expedite the process of filing possible insurance claims.
At around 8.30pm on Wednesday, in strong winds averaging between 6 and 9 Beaufort, the T-shaped crane- 44-metres in length and 80 metres in width- fell on to Phinikoudes promenade, crashing down on a moving car containing a British couple (permanent residents of Vrysoulles village) and four other vehicles.
The fallen crane trapped Victor and Christine-Marie Coleman, 65 and 67, inside the car until the emergency services were able to get them out and rush them to Larnaca general hospital.
Soon after, Christine-Marie died at the hospital as a result of multiple injuries, namely haemorrhaging in her brain and lungs, while her husband sustained head and brain injuries and internal cranial haemorrhaging. He remains in a serious but stable condition at the hospital’s surgery department.
A 47-year-old Iranian man lost his finger trying to flee from the falling crane on foot while a 60-year-old Cypriot pedestrian suffered a fractured hand.
According to eye-witness accounts, the crane’s fall was broken by the cars, which changed the direction of the crane as it hit the ground, narrowly missing a kiosk with seven people inside.
As daylight broke yesterday, the damage caused by the massive 200 ton crane became piercingly clear for local residents and investigators who would justifiably have wondered how the loss of life was not greater by the fall of a colossal metal tower onto a hugely popular promenade.
The meteorological service reported that heavy rain and strong winds affected nearly all parts of the island on Wednesday, with Larnaca and Limassol bearing the brunt of the bad weather.
Meteorological service official Theodoros Hadjigeorgiou told the Cyprus Mail yesterday that the average force of winds on Wednesday night was 6 Beaufort but that a gusting wind lasting ten to 15 minutes reached a maximum of 9 Beaufort.
Most commentators attributed the crane’s fall to freak weather. Asked whether winds of 9 Beaufort were extreme, Hadjigeorgiou replied: “It’s quite usual in these kinds of thunderstorms which we usually get in winter,” he said, adding, “We’ve had much worse in Cyprus”.
According to sources, labour inspectors who visited the site yesterday commented that the crane’s location on Athinon Avenue overlooking Phinikoudes promenade meant that the narrow street buttressed by buildings on either side could have magnified the wind’s force.
Also the crane’s position 44m above ground means that it would have been exposed to gust wind speeds greater than those felt at a pedestrian level.
The Cyprus Mail spoke to TC Tower Cranes Ltd, exclusive representatives in Cyprus of the German manufacturing company Liebherr Werk Biberach Gmbh which built the crane.
A company representative said they were carrying out their own investigation and did not wish to comment until after their meeting with labour inspectors this morning.
According to the company’s website, the tower cranes are equipped with the most modern lifting systems for the secure and swift lifting of loads from 1,000kg to 60,000 kg. The company provides full technical support, assembling and disassembling services.
Another industry website, towercranesupport.com, notes that 17 per cent of tower crane accidents in 2010 (27 out of 157) were linked to high winds.
Speaking later yesterday to Sigma television, government spokesman Stefanos Stefanou, in a dig related to the Mari blast in which 13 people died last year, said he hoped President Demetris Christofias was not going to be blamed for this accident as well.
Photo shows the aftermath early yesterday morning along Larnaca's Phinikoudes seafront (Christos Theodorides)