CNN - Three missing after New York City crane collapse

Sent from Bombastic4000@gmail.com's mobile device from http://www.cnn.com.

Three missing after New York City crane collapse

Three people were missing Sunday, a day after a crane collapsed, killing four construction workers on the east side of Midtown Manhattan, Mayor Michael Bloomberg told reporters.

Rescue workers were searching for two construction workers and a neighborhood resident in the wreckage of a five-story townhouse destroyed by the top portion of the crane.

The accident occurred Saturday when a piece of steel fell, shearing a tie holding the crane to a skyscraper under construction.

In addition to the four dead and three missing, 24 people were injured, three of them critically.

The crane damaged six nearby buildings, including an 18-story residential high-rise across the street from the construction site.

A dozen other buildings in the area were evacuated, Bloomberg said. Watch scene of destruction

City officials inspected the crane Friday and found no violations.

The crane's tumble damaged buildings on 50th Street and 51st Street near Second Avenue.

City officials told The Associated Press they had issued 13 violations to the site in the past 27 months, a normal amount for a project of that size.

On March 4, a caller told city officials that the upper part of the crane appeared to lack the proper number of ties to the building, AP reported, citing City Building Department records.

On March 6, a city inspector at the site determined there was no violation, AP reported.