A man died at the Catskill Marina in New York state - between Albany and New York City - on Monday, when the hoist cables of the crane he was working alongside made contact with an overhead power line, setting fire to the crane and electrocuting the slinger.
The man, Branden Luciano, 36, is a technician with the marina and was, we assume acting as a rigger/slinger signaller. It appears that the crane was working in conjunction with an aerial work platform pruning trees around the power lines in the main street. Luciano was, from what we have been told, touching the hook block as he removed a load, when the ropes came too close to the power lines sending a bolt of electricity through him to earth, while setting fire to the crane's tyres.
The crane, a Terex truck crane, is in the livery of local crane man Conrad Coon, however it seems it is a crane that he sold on the used market but did not remove his name. He made the following statement: “Sad to hear, I have had a lot of calls to see if I was alright. I wasn't there, it is one of my cranes that I sold a couple years ago. One of my greatest fear was someone getting hurt or killed while I was operating a crane. My heart goes out to the operator having to live with this. And also, to the family of the young man that died. Something that we in the construction field hate to hear.”
The videos below show more from the scene.
But in the meantime, a friend of Branden Luciano has set up a Go fund me page to raise some money to help his young family. www.gofundme.com/f/branden-luciano
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