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New York: Rescuers dug through debris for three people still missing in the rubble and wreckage left when a construction crane toppled like a tree across a city block and killed at least four construction workers.
Among the missing on Sunday were two workers and a woman who was staying in an apartment at a town house flattened by the crane.
"Each passing hour, things get a little more grim," Fire Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta said. Twenty-four others were injured, including 11 first responders, said Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Eight remained hospitalised, officials said.
The crane rose 19 stories and was attached to an apartment tower under construction when it broke away on Saturday and toppled like a tree onto buildings as far as a block away.
Concerns
On Sunday, crews continued to remove pieces of the crane and piles of debris from the damaged buildings as neighbourhood residents and a Manhattan borough official raised concerns about city inspections at the apartment tower.
"I warned the Buildings Department on March 4 that it was not sufficiently braced against the building," said Bruce Silberblatt, a retired contractor and vice president of the Turtle Bay Neighbourhood Association.
Retired ironworker Kerry Walker, who with his wife lived in the top-floor apartment of a decimated four-story town house and left minutes before the collapse, had complained that the crane appeared dangerously unstable, his stepson said.
"He knows all about cranes and said this one had no braces, everything was too minimal," John Viscardi said.
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