A crane collapsed across the Tappan Zee Bridge on Tuesday, injuring at least two people and blocking traffic in both directions, authorities said.
“It kind of stopped down a little bit, then it crashed, it literally crashed,” a witness told ABC-TV. “Luckily there were no cars right under it.”
A police official said there did not appear to be any life-threatening injuries, but at least two people were seen being put onto gurneys and taken away as emergency personnel flocked to the span, which connects Tarrytown in Westchester County with Nyack in Rockland County.
A police source told The Post that the injured included a construction worker who was on the bridge at the time.
Another person was hurt in a fender-bender that occurred as a female driver swerved to try to avoid hitting another vehicle because of the crane collapse, the source and witness said.
The police source discounted reports of anyone jumping from the bridge, although eight police emergency boats were at the scene.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo cut short an event in the Finger Lakes and was rushing to the scene amid reports that the crane’s operator could still be stuck in its cab, Gannett reported.
The crane was being used to build pilings under the new span being erected alongside the aging Tappan Zee, the police source said.
The entire crane was entirely on a section of the new bridge when its long, massive red arm crashed across the Tappan Zee’s entire six lanes, spewing metal everywhere.
“I was scared. I’ve never seen an accident like this,” the witness told ABC.
“This is a parking lot, basically. We’ve been told to stay in our cars or behind the yellow line. It happened so suddenly.”
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