A crane collapsed on to the streets of Manhattan yesterday, killing its operator and another worker. It was the second such incident in New York in three months,

The crane was being used to build the 32-storey Azure apartment block when it snapped in half during morning rush hour and crashed into the 23-storey Electra apartment building before plummeting to the street at the corner of First Avenue and 91st Street.The boom smashed the roof of the Electra and ripped off several balconies as it sent glass and debris raining to the ground, injuring a pedestrian.

Bystanders said that the crane had just dropped off a load when it broke in two. “The first boom was when it hit the building. The second boom was when it hit the ground,” Bo Dietl said. “I was in shock. I thought ‘it cannot be happening again’.”

Andy Alvarez, a building worker, said that members of the construction crew rushed to the aid of the operator, who was trapped by the crane, but were unable to free him. The operator, identified as Donald Leo, 30, had been due to get married in two weeks. The construction worker who died was named as Ramadan Kurtas, 27. A third worker was seriously injured.

The accident came less than three months after a crane collapsed at Second Avenue and 51st Street, about two miles to the south, killing seven people. A city building inspector was accused of skipping an inspection and charged with falsifying business records. The city’s buildings commissioner resigned and Michael Bloomberg, the Mayor, promised to reinspect all 250 cranes in use in New York. The crane that toppled yesterday was not inspected because it had not then been erected, but it had undergone routine checks. Mr Bloomberg called the latest accident unacceptable.

Scott Bair, a foreman at the building site, said that he survived because he left to get an egg sandwich moments before the accident. “I thought, ‘I’m hungry and I want to go get something to eat’ — and that saved my life,” he said.

Times Recommends

• Peter Moore’s family say they can smile again
• Ambition always comes before a fall
• Putin: Russia needs more weapons to counter US