One dead, three injured during crane accident

A construction crane crashed onto a busy road in Doha yesterday, killing an Egyptian expatriate and injuring three others. The accident took place at the Airport Road-F Ring Road intersection around 10:45am. Traffic was backed up from Doha City to the southern side for more than three hours while traffic towards Doha from the opposite side was divered through the Corniche Road. No vehicles were trapped under the gigantic crane as it fell onto the busy road, across all lanes on both directions. Accidents involving construction cranes are rare.

Expatriate dies as crane crashes onto Doha road

An Egyptian expatriate was killed and three others, said to be Asians, sustained serious injuries when a construction crane crashed onto a busy road in Doha yesterday.
The accident, which took place  at the Airport Road-F Ring Road intersection around 10.45am when the crane was being erected, paralysed  traffic from Doha city to the southern side (towards Wakrah and beyond) for more than three hours. Traffic towards Doha from the opposite side were  diverted through the Corniche Road.
No vehicles were caught under the gigantic crane as it fell onto the usually busy road, across all its lanes on both directions. The initial pictures of the fallen crane and the reports on social media had fuelled speculation that more people had died and injured. But inquiries at the hospital confirmed the death of only one worker and injuries to three others.
Inquiries made with the company that was undertaking the construction at the site from where the crane fell on the road found that the deceased as well as the injured were their workers. It is still not clear  how the heavy crane tumbled and how the workers got trapped under it.
The crane, painted in bright yellow, fell a few metres before the intersection where the newly-built F-Ring Road joins the Airport Road. The stretch of road where the crane fell usually witnesses a heavy flow of traffic throughout the day.
“It was sheer providence that no vehicle was passing through the spot where the crane fell,” a motorist told Gulf Times.
Following the accident, long queues of vehicles were formed for kilometres on the Airport Road and Wakrah-bound vehicles from the city were routed through the F-Ring Road and its further diversions.
At the time of the accident there were strong winds across the country, as forecast by the Meteorological Department earlier. However, it is not known if the accident was due to such windy conditions.
Accidents involving falling construction cranes are rare. There was one at a construction site in the city’s Old Salata area some seven to eighty years ago. There were no fatalities in that accident as the crane fell onto an open area.
Given the construction boom happening all over Qatar and especially in and around Doha, yesterday’s incident has triggered demands from various sections of the society to ensure the safety of cranes.
“There are many construction sites across Doha and the cranes can be seen swinging over the adjacent roads at regular intervals. It would be good if the authorities concerned ensure their safety,” a resident said.

Gulf Times