Mar 16, 2008 12:53 pm US/Eastern
Residents Stunned And Shaken After Crane Collapse
Rescue Crews Continue To Work, Red Cross Offers Psychological Help
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
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A massive crane collapsed at a construction site in Manhattan, leaving at least four people dead and many more injured.
Jenna Israel
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A massive crane has collapsed at a New York construction site, CBS station WCBS-TV reported Saturday.
CBS
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A massive crane collapses at a New York construction site, trapping several people in a building. Two people are dead and multiple injuries are being reported.
Eric Yang/CBS
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Rescue crews are searching for survivors amid the rubble of a New York City building collapse. Four people are dead, several are injured and several are reported missing.
CBS
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A section of a collapsed crane protrudes from a crushed building on 50th Street near Second Avenue Saturday, March 15, 2008, in New York City. The giant crane toppled over at a construction site and smashed into a block of East Side residential buildings.
Jason DeCrow/AP
Survivors of the East Side crane collapse now reflect on what could have been. All walks of life, from blue-collar workers to celebrities shared their grief and concern for loved ones and their neighbors.
There is a desperate search for answers at the Police and Red Cross Command Center at the High School of Art and Design on 2nd Ave. and 57th St. A frantic Cyrena Esposito was looking for her aunt, actress Jill Haworth.
"We cant locate her anywhere," Esposito told CBS 2 HD. "I've left messages but she's left the apartment."
Haworth's apartment was vacant, with the crushed crane slammed up against the outside wall.
Several hours after the crane crushed the building that housed 'Fubar,' rescuers finally pulled dazed disoriented bar worker Juan Perez from the rubble, and took him and other survivors to Bellevue Hospital.
"We know he is alive and we are praying for him," said Fubar employee Elisa DePalma. "As far as anyone else we don't know."
Television Host Dick Cavett is one of the East Side residents left dazed by the catastrophe.
"I saw a dead person being carried out and that person's shoes were showing. I had a strange thought out of 'Crime and Punishment' that the man put his shoes on this morning thinking he would take them off but someone else will now," said Cavett.
Memories of the thunderous crash, and raining of debris will haunt Gary Malave, and many others.
"There was smoke, bricks flying, cars being smashed and what not," Malave told CBS 2 HD.
"We know that immediate psychological first aid helps people in the long run in the recovery process," said Eddie McQuillan of the Red Cross, who are helping the many left shaken and stunned by Saturday's construction accident.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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