Yesterday’s crane collapse in New York City killed two construction workers and left a third seriously injured. Witnesses told CNN the cab and the arm of the crane crashed more than 20 stories to the ground, smashing the penthouse on a building across the street and gouging chunks out of balconies all the way to the ground.  The crane collapse was the second such construction accident in New York City in less than three months.

The victims of yesterday’s tragedy inlcuded the crane operator, Donald Leo, 30, and worker Ramadan Kurtaj, a 27-year-old immigrant from Kosovo who came to New York two years ago. He earned a living laying water and sewer lines, sending his savings home to his parents. Leo was to be married in three weeks.

The crane involved in the accident was perched atop the Azure, a building currently under construction at 91st Street and 1st Avenue on Manhattan’s upper east side. The crane destroyed the penthouse and several other apartments at the Electra, an adjacent building. The tragedy occurred shortly after 8:00 a.m., at the height of rush hour.

New York City has been beset by construction accidents recently, and this was the second crane collapse in two months. That tragedy occurred two miles south of today’s accident on the east side of midtown Manhattan. The March crane collapse also destroyed a townhouse, and seriously damaged five other buildings. Six workers from the construction site, as well as a Florida woman visiting the city who was staying with a friend in the destroyed townhouse, were killed in the March incident.

Following the March New York City crane collapse, an city inspector – who allegedly had lied about inspecting the doomed crane in the weeks before the collapse – was arrested for falsifying records. The March crane collapse followed complaints from residents about the site and led to the resignation of New York City Buildings Commissioner Patricia Lancaster.

According to MSNBC.com, neighbors near site of Friday’s crane collapse had also made various complaints about cranes  at the site to the city recently, but inspectors found that most of them were “unwarranted”. But inspectors did temporarily order one crane at the site to stop all work on April 23 for not having the proper permit and for operating the crane in an unsafe matter. Building Department records also said officials halted work after a crane on the site failed a “load test” on April 22. The crane passed a second test, however, the next day, and no violation was issued.