Bellevue crane crash: causes and photos

There's been a stream of articles about the Bellevue crane collapse. If you're not in the area, the Seattle PI is a good source of info.

The comment from the construction worker I spoke to on the day after, has been confirmed: the crane was not bolted into the concrete foundation directly. The unusual design was approved by an independent engineering firm.

There's even more to the story -- bankruptcy and drugs, even. As usual, it's probably a combination of factors that led to the accident. But definitely a man-made disaster that could have been avoided.

And interesting angle on the story is the role that amateur photographers are playing in having captured the state of the crane prior to collapse. It appears in many photos that the crane was leaning even weeks before the accident. See Inquiry focuses on crane photos for more details.

If anyone has additional photos, especially from before the crash, there are now 297 photos tagged with bellevue and cranes on flickr.