May 31, 2015
Milo Avidane/Instagram
An air conditioning unit fell from a crane outside a Midtown Manhattan building on Sunday morning, injuring at least 10 people.
Ten people were injured after a massive air conditioning unit fell from a crane in Midtown Manhattan Sunday morning, scattering debris in its wake as it fell nearly 30 stories to the street below, officials said.
According to NBC 4 in New York, police said the accident occurred at around 10:45 a.m. after the AC unit snapped free from the cable it was attached to outside a building on Madison Avenue between East 38th and East 39th Streets.
Officials said that at least two construction workers and eight pedestrians suffered minor injuries as a result of falling debris.
Workers were attempting to hoist the HVAC unit through a hole into a control room on the 30th floor of the building when it missed its target and separated from the cable, the New York Post reports. According to officials and witnesses, the machine struck the building several times during its fall before crashing onto the street.
New York Mayor Bill de Blasio said that the city would conduct a full investigation to determine exactly what caused the accident.
