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Crane collapses at Houston refinery, killing 4

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[July 19, 2008]  HOUSTON (AP) -- Hitting the ground with enough force to lift a worker off the ground, one of the nation's largest mobile cranes collapsed at a Houston oil refinery, killing four workers and injuring seven others.

As federal officials prepared to investigate the latest in a string of fatal accidents involving cranes, the Louisiana company that owns the 300-foot-tall piece of equipment said it would pursue its own probe of Friday's incident. Deep South Crane & Rigging spokeswoman Margaret Landry issued a statement from the company's headquarters in Baton Rouge, saying it was investigating "to determine the root cause, correct it and ensure that this type of tragedy does not occur again."

DonutsThe 30-story-tall crane, capable of lifting 1 million pounds, fell over at a LyondellBasell refinery in southeast Houston about 2 p.m., said Jim Roecker, the company's vice president for refining.

Three of the injured were treated and released at the scene, said Houston Fire Department Assistant Chief Omero Longoria. Two severely injured workers were taken by helicopter to Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center hospital and the other two injured workers were taken to a hospital by ambulance.

The crane had not been scheduled to do any work until next week, but Roecker said its engine was idling after it hit the ground.

"This is a traumatic experience for all of us. We have to focus on the safety and health of our employees," Roecker said.

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Micheal Gabriel, 22, of Spring, told reporters as he left a hospital Friday night that he was lifted off the ground by the crane's impact.

Gabriel, a contract worker, said he didn't see the crane fall. "I was in shock. I was crying. It was bad."

He told a relative that he was in a canopy tent where workers eat lunch when he heard a loud pop and people started shouting for people to run, the Houston Chronicle reported.

Near the scene of the collapse, Mattie Graham stood with her husband, Deep South worker Horace Graham.

"I'm thinking about their families. He could have been there today," she said, gesturing to her husband.

The refinery has about 3,000 LyondellBasell workers and 1,500 contract workers, Roecker said. He said all personnel at the plant were accounted for, and the plant was operating as usual.

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Crane safety has been getting extra scrutiny in recent months because of an alarming number of crane-related deaths in places such as New York, Miami and Las Vegas.

In New York City, two crane accidents since March have killed nine people - a greater number than the total deaths from cranes over the previous decade.

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An Associated Press analysis in June found that cities and states have wildly varying rules governing construction cranes, and some have no regulations at all, choosing instead to rely on federal guidelines dating back nearly 40 years that some experts say haven't kept up with technological advances.

Texas led the nation with 26 crane-related fatalities in 2005 and 2006, according to federal statistics. Cranes in Texas operate without any state or local oversight, leaving that job to federal regulators.

The crane at the refinery had been delivered in pieces and assembled on site within the last month. It was brought in to remove the roof of the coker unit so large drums could be removed from inside, Roecker said. Cokers convert crude oil to petroleum products.

East Texas Crane Academy president Joe Bob Williams, whose clients include Lyondell, said it's unusual for such cranes to fail because of the number of people involved in their maintenance.

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"It's really odd for these cranes to have any issues because there are so many eyes looking in," Williams said.

Cameras are mounted around the plant and Roecker said the company hopes that video from those cameras will help it figure out what happened.

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Associated Press writers Ana Ley and John Porretto and photographer David Phillip in Houston, Paul J. Weber in Dallas and researcher Judith Auesebel in New York contributed to this report.

[Associated Press; By MONICA RHOR]

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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