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Nearly 100 people evacuated from homes following fatal crane collapse at Swan site
Nearly 100 residents have been forced to leave their homes after a 20-metre crane collapsed onto houses at a Swan Housing Association site in Bow, east London yesterday.
Tower Hamlets Council confirmed that 26 households housing 97 people have now had to be temporarily rehoused in hotel accommodation after the incident that killed one person and injured four others.
One woman was found dead at the scene and four others have been treated for injuries after the accident at the association’s Watts Grove site.
Tower Hamlets said that a total of 41 hotel rooms had been booked for those living around the site where the incident took place.
The spokesperson said: “We are incredibly shocked by the crane collapse this evening in Bow and our thoughts are with the families of those affected.
“Council officers are on the scene to both support the London Fire Brigade and residents who have been affected by the incident. We have set up a rest centre to help those who are displaced. All residents in the affected buildings are being offered food and support at the rest centre and we are providing accommodation for those that need it.
“Access to the local area will be restricted for some time.”
A spokesperson for Swan could not confirm whether the crane was in use at the time of its collapse.
Mr Biggs told ITV News: “It was still being erected as I understand it. Someone else told me it was being erected today, so it’s in the last 48 hours it’s been going up. So I guess it might have started yesterday and carried on today. Sometimes they seem to take a couple of days to go up.”
Jerry Swain, national officer for construction Unite, said: “Yet again we have seen a crane collapse on a construction site.
“Unite is in the process of contacting the company to discover more details about this accident.
“There must be an urgent, full and complete investigation into the circumstances that led to this accident.”
