One dead and four injured in crane collapse In Bow

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One person has died and four people were injured after a crane collapsed on to houses and a block of flats which were under construction in Bow.

The 20m (65ft) crane crashed on to the development and two terrace houses in Compton Close, Bow, just before 3pm.

Despite treatment one woman died at the scene and four others were injured, two of whom were “treated for head injuries and taken to hospital,” the London Ambulance Service said. The other two were assessed but not taken to the hospital.

The police have blocked off the area.

One witness who was working next door to the incident said it was “quite honestly the loudest thing” they’ve heard and that the “emergency services were there within minutes and had it under control – incredibly proud of them”.

Videos posted on Tower Hamlets Residents Facebook group showed a house with part of the roof collapsed.

Aerial footage from the site shows the crane laying across an apartment block, with a section of the crane having smashed through the roof of an adjacent house.

According to the BBC, an eyewitness said they believed the crane driver had escaped safely.

London Ambulance Service tweeted to say it had “a number of crews and specialist resources” at the scene.

LFB assistant commissioner Graham Ellis said securing the house would be a “complex rescue operation”.

Mr Ellis said: “Our Urban Search and Rescue crews are undertaking a complex rescue operation and using specialist equipment to search the properties.”

The fire service has “deployed a drone to provide aerial imagery to aid with the rescue”.

The crane that collapsed was being used by Swan Housing Association and NU living at the time.

A spokeswoman for Swan Housing Association and NU living said they were “aware of an incident that occurred at our Watts Grove development site in Tower Hamlets, east London, this afternoon”.

“A full incident response has been implemented and our staff are on site supporting the emergency services in their response.”