For the third time in a handful of months, a crane has collapsed at a Toronto construction site.
The culprit of the accident this time is not unknown, but was apparently an unanticipated sinkhole at a site for work on the Eglinton Crosstown LRT at Mount Pleasant and Eglinton Ave. East — and no, not the glowing green Ninja Turtles sinkhole from last week, though that would have made for a cooler story.
@Toronto_Fire Technical Operations crews on scene at Mt Pleasant and Eglinton for a construction crane collapse alongside @TorontoPolice @TorontoMedics. Fortunately, no serious injuries have been reported. Ministry of Labour to investigate. pic.twitter.com/ovotJkrT74
— Matthew Pegg (@ChiefPeggTFS) November 24, 2020
Thankfully, no one was seriously harmed in the incident, which took place shortly after dark on Monday, around 6 p.m.
The crane operator emerged unscathed despite the ground literally giving out underneath them, while a coworker injured their knee trying to escape from the giant falling piece of equipment, which they were directly under.
A representative for Crosslinx Transit Solutions told the CBC that the employee's injuries were fortunately minor. Ward 12 Toronto-St. Paul's city councillor Josh Matlow called the narrow miss "remarkable" in a tweet thanking Toronto Fire and Paramedic Services for their speedy response.
A larger crane is in place to hoist a smaller crane out of a sinkhole that formed early last night at the Eglinton Crosstown construction site at Mt Pleasant/Eglinton. The operator was inside the control cab when he felt the ground underneath give way. He escaped ok. pic.twitter.com/EjEzAS0W1p
— carl hanstke (@carl680) November 24, 2020
A larger crane was brought in to hoist the smaller, though still hefty mobile crane out of the sinkhole, which is thought to have been caused by water erosion after the machinery was sitting stationary on a concrete pad in the same location for eight months while working on the underground Mount Pleasant Station.
How this will hinder the progress and future of the station remains to be seen.
— Lucas Ramsay (@lpramsay) November 23, 2020
A portion of the thoroughfare was shuttered to traffic during rush hour as a result, with drivers advised to take alternative routes as the task of removing the rig extended into Tuesday morning.
Mobile crane cabs sit about 10 feet off the ground and their telescopic reach can range from a few to a whopping 650 feet.
Unlike the last major Toronto crane snafu, which took place at Dundas and River Streets in August, there doesn't seem to be any impact on hydro lines or other services at this time.
That mess left thousands of Torontonians without power less than a month after yet another huge crane fell from the sky in the downtown core.
Update:they are slowly starting to haul crane out of hole: pic.twitter.com/qZTUvOf9fK
— carl hanstke (@carl680) November 24, 2020
After all of these dangerous crane anomalies, residents will surely be looking up more often while navigating the city, especially given how many of the damn things dot the Toronto skyline in the city's seeming effort to erect as many condos as quickly possible.
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