Crane Damages Brooklyn Bridge While Passing Under

Responding: There were no reported injuries, the scene was very dramatic as about 20 feet of protective sheeting fell into the river below


A crane pulled by an East River tugboat slammed into scaffolding beneath the Brooklyn Bridge on Tuesday night, officials said.

Twenty feet of canvas and sheet metal was damaged as the crane aboard the Thomas Dann hit the underside of the bridge at midspan just after 8 p.m., authorities said.

The canvas swaddling the bridge has been in place for about two years as part of an ongoing paint project, said Department of Transportation spokesman Seth Solomonow. “The top of the crane scraped a containment unit under the bridge,” Solomonow said.

The boat continued to float down the river without stopping, Powell said.

The U.S. Coast Guard is set to interview the boat's captain at Port Newark about the incident, an agency spokesman said.

Although there doesn’t appear to be any structural damage, Solomonow said, the bridge will be carefully inspected.

The sudden collision startled onlookers.

“I was at the Brooklyn Bridge Park when I heard some thudding sounds and people started screaming in the distance,” said Sade Powell, 18, of East New York.

“Everyone in the park just jumped,” the George Washington University freshman said. “It sounded like something serious.”

Bobbie Lilly, 57, a nurse’s aide from Manhattan, was enjoying the nice weather with friends at the South Street Seaport when she heard the crash.

“I heard the loud scraping noise and there was a crane on a long boat hitting the bridge,” she said. “Oh my goodness, there was a big hole.”

Crane on barge hits Brooklyn Bridge: MyFoxNY.com