Four killed in Seattle Google campus crane collapse

Four people were killed in Seattle, Washington on April 27 when a tower crane on a new Google campus building collapsed, smashing into six cars on the street below.

Investigators say two of the victims were crane operators belonging to the Ironworkers union, and two people in separate crushed cars were discovered dead. Four others were injured, but they were not serious.

While officials said they could not confirm the cause of the crash, the state Department of Labor and Industries is investigating it.

Several witnesses and the National Weather Service reported a storm squall with powerful gusting winds moved through the area at the time the crane was being dismantled, then toppled, the Seattle Times has reported.

“It was terrifying,” the Times reported witness Esther Nelson as saying. “I looked up. The wind was blowing really strong,” she recalled. She saw boats struggling on Lake Union. Then the crane — she estimated it was maybe eight or nine stories high — broke in half.
“Half of it was flying down sideways on the building,” she said. “The other half fell down on the street, crossing both lanes of traffic.”