The death toll from the collapse of a brand-new giant gantry crane in a Shanghai shipyard has risen to 36, the official XinhuaNews Agency said.
The crane collapsed at the Hudong Shipbuilding Group plant in the port city's Pudong district at 8 a.m. (local time) yesterday, only a day after its inauguration ceremony.
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More than 30 workers, mechanics and engineers were installing the crane when it fell, the
Shanghai Daily
reported today.
It said the crane was H-shaped, with two upright supports and a crossbeam 100 metres (330 foot) long and weighing 3,000 tonnes. Workers had raised the crossbeam to a height of 47 metres (155 feet) on Monday, 33-metres shy of its destination, it said.
Yesterday morning, workers found the steel rope linking one leg and the crossbeam had come loose. The rope broke as they tried to repair it, causing the two legs to topple and the crossbeam to crash down, the newspaper said.
"I was standing on the crane's crossbeam pulling a steel rope. Then it suddenly broke and I felt I was falling," the Shanghai Dailyquoted one of the seriously injured, 33-year-old worker Tang Weigeng, as saying.
Nearly 20 of the casualties were employees of the shipyard and the rest were technicians and experts from the Shanghai Power Construction Engineering Co and Tongji University, which were responsible for installing the crane, the newspaper said.
It said three people in serious condition were being treated at the city's Dongfang hospital for brain injuries, bruised organs and bone fractures.