NEW YORK: Six people were injured in New York on Wednesday when the top portion of a construction crane caught fire and crashed into a Manhattan street during the morning rush hour, authorities said.

Firefighters and rescue personnel arrived at the scene just as the crane fell, apparently responding to the blaze that had erupted in the cabin and caused it to topple.

The incident unfolded at about 7:30am (1130 GMT) in the area of 10th and 11th avenues and West 41st and 42nd streets, near the Hudson Yards complex, the New York City Police Department said on the X social media platform, formerly known as Twitter.

The NYPD urged people to avoid the area, as emergency vehicles blocked the surrounding streets and snarled traffic through the nearby Lincoln Tunnel to New Jersey.

Unverified video footage posted on social media showed the top section of the crane snapping, then grazing a nearby building as it fell to the street, along with a 16-ton load of concrete it was lifting. At the same time, thick, black smoke can be seen billowing from the crane’s cabin.

The six people who were injured included two firefighters. All of them sustained minor injuries, authorities said.

“As you see from the debris on the street, this could have been much worse,” New York City Mayor Eric Adams said during a press conference at the scene.

Published in Dawn, July 27th, 2023