SEVERAL PEOPLE WERE injured in the western Dutch town of Alphen aan den Rijn today when two cranes working on a bridge upgrade toppled onto houses nearby, the local fire brigade said.
The cranes were carrying a stretch of roadway for the local Juliana Bridge, a canal bridge dating from the 1950s, when the first machine went down.
“Two cranes and the stretch of roadway they were carrying fell on five houses in all,” Ton Koot, brigade spokesman for firefighters of the central Holland region, told AFP.
“There are about 20 injured,” he said, giving preliminary figures from first responders, who were being aided by air-ambulance helicopters.
Unbalanced by the extra load, the second crane then fell. Screams can be heard in the distance as the cranes fall into and across the water, one by one, in this video.
Dutch TV channel NOS said 20 people were injured after the cranes fell on a second-hand clothing store and another shop selling art and drawing supplies.
It was unclear how many people were inside the buildings at the time, but this video shows the devastating aftermath of the collapse, with houses and cars apparently crushed under the cranes.
Contains reporting by AFP.
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