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Crane collapse in stadium for opening match of 2014 World Cup kills two workers

Thursday, November 28th 2013 - 10:41 UTC
Full article 8 comments

Two people died in an accident at Sao Paulo's stadium, which is due to host the opening ceremony of the 2014 World Cup finals, police say. A senior local fire official said crews were called Wednesday midday to the Arena Corinthians after reports of a collapsed crane. It fell on top of a metal structure, destroying part of a facade. Read full article

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  • Briton

    more cowboy builders,

    still,
    repairs will be made, and some poor sods have to sit their...

    Nov 28th, 2013 - 01:27 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • Conqueror

    Yet another reason not to go to Brazil. Here are potential reasons. 1. Normally, Brazil has a massive crime rate. This will see a massive increase as Brazilian crims pick on “visitors”. 2. There will be many argies in the country. 3. Normally, Brazil has the highest rate of murders in the world. This will see a massive increase as Brazilian crims target “visitors”. 4. There will be many argies, known for being totally lawless, in the country. Most “accommodation” will be substandard. The various features to be avoided are as follows: Rooms, food, water, public transport, stores, streets, people and argies. 5. Air transport WILL be problematical and it may be best to travel to Guyana and then walk. 6. IF you can get to the country, IF you can survive on your way to the stadium, it may fall on you. There is no way that a guarantee can be given as to WHEN the stadium will collapse. It might be a minute after kick-off. Wouldn't that be a waste of money?

    Nov 28th, 2013 - 03:10 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • ChrisR

    Easily avoidable tragedy caused by reckless site engineers failing to take adequate corrective action for the rain soaked standing where the crane was to be located.

    Also, on one photograph, the angle of the main spar was too low and could have contributed to the instability, even though there were rear braces behind the cab.

    This thing was reported as rated at 500 tonnes and that is what the standing should have been capable of supporting: it clearly was not as the actual load was nothing like 500 tonnes.

    Nov 28th, 2013 - 03:45 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • golfcronie

    @3
    It may be rated at 500 tonnes, but do you know if they had adequate ballast at the rear of the crane?

    Nov 28th, 2013 - 06:46 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • Briton

    so can they guarantee the safety of the rest of the stadium..

    Nov 28th, 2013 - 06:53 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • ChrisR

    @ 4 golfcronie

    Cannot tell from the poor photo's presently available, but in reality that was not the problem: the ground gave way under the crane due to the persistent rain, the surface water is all over the site.

    One worker was quoted as saying “they put stones under the crane at the other location but they said there wasn’t time to do it”. Not too sure about “stones”, it could have been colloquial for “slabs” as in construction slabs, and even then they would need to be big buggers.

    @ 5 Briton

    Having worked in a structures office when I first qualified, where making an error could have fatal consequences ALL my work was checked. They never found an error but one day the Structural Engineer said that I had used a larger safety margin than he would have thought necessary to which I asked “so please tell me how many people will die because of that decision?” He was worried about the cost of the slightly heavier structure, but he never questioned me again.

    So NO, I don’t think, given the cock-up they did because of the time pressure, that they CAN guarantee the safety. I think my method is by far the best.

    Perhaps the REAL problem here, as ever, was the tardiness of the politicians because they had been used to “doing it at the last minute” which had been quoted in many government statements and the stupid contractors agreed to it. Now they are BOTH going to pay for it big-time; and so they should.

    Nov 28th, 2013 - 09:45 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • The Chilean perspective

    Failure of pads over unstable ground supporting crane outriggers is probably the most common reason why they topple over. This is a typical result of hurrying on the worksite because of fear of not meeting deadlines. If you rush people will get hurt, simple. When the ground is suspect, a concrete pad must be poured which unfortunately delays the lift even further. My condolences to the families.

    Nov 29th, 2013 - 01:17 am - Link - Report abuse 0
  • Briton

    6 ChrisR
    thanks,
    let just hope they Finnish it on time,
    and hopefully everything goes off ok..

    Nov 29th, 2013 - 07:27 pm - Link - Report abuse 0

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