OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) – A 60-ton crane tipped over and hit a building on the corner of Robinson and Sheridan Avenue in downtown Oklahoma City Saturday afternoon. The crane hit the restaurant Mahogany Prime Steakhouse in the Oklahoman building. Crews have been working all afternoon into tonight to get it cleaned up.
The Oklahoma City Fire Department told KFOR construction workers were trying to remove the Jumbotron and in the process of removing it, the crane tipped over and hit the building.
There was also a smaller second crane next to it and there were two workers inside that crane when it started to collapse.
Fortunately, they were able to fall to the floor of that bucket and were not hurt.
“We believe it was just simply that the weight shifted with it being on the side of the crane and just caused the crane to tilt into the building,” said Chief Sean Cobb, Oklahoma City Fire Department shift commander.
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Makenzie Allen saw the two men try and get out.
“They had to actually climb over on top of the building to get out,” said Makenzie Allen, saw the crane hit the building.
A couple who witnessed the whole thing happen and said the noise is what caught their attention.
“It was shocking. It was kind of slow motion. You could hear the truck kind of failing and tipping over… But for a second there, we didn’t know because of a fall on cars or on people or what was going on,” said Jeff Bell, saw the crane hit the building.
The operator of this larger crane had minor injuries and was transported by EMS to a local hospital.
“I can tell you that we’re not doing any active rescues right now. Everyone is safe. And now we’re going to wait for the crane company to bring in additional cranes that will assist in getting the initial crane upright so that we can get the streets back open on something like this building,” said Cobb.
Everyone inside the building was evacuated.
The Oklahoma City Fire Department told KFOR the increased response efforts slightly to meet the need.
Downtown drivers are asked to avoid the intersection of Sheridan and Robinson during their Monday morning commute. Traffic will be detoured to Hudson.
It is not clear how long the closure will last.