A tower crane fell this Friday shortly before 4 p.m. on the geriatrics department of the Tournai hospital (CHwapi), confirmed the mayor of the city, Paul-Olivier Delannois (PS).
Probably destabilized by the wind, this crane, installed on the construction site of the new Tournai hospital, fell on the upper floors of a new building housing one of the hospital’s geriatrics departments.
“The medical hospital emergency plan was directly triggered” the hospital said in a statement, “The entire building – patients, employees and children included – was evacuated within the hospital itself or to neighboring hospitals (Mouscron, Ath and Baudour). The families of the patients and the parents of the children concerned have been notified (…) The patients are stabilized and under medical supervision”.
The crane operator is injured
Staff and patients are unharmed and have all been evacuated to another wing of the hospital. Only the crane operator was injured and had to be extricated by the emergency services. He was conscious when taken care of by the paramedics.
The damage is significant
In terms of structural damage, the statement further specifies that “The fifth floor is partially demolished, it housed technical rooms. The 4th floor is 100% unusable, while the 3rd floor is seriously affected. The two services housed Geriatrics units. The CHwa’ptis crèche did not have “The area was evacuated as a precaution since four cranes are still on the site, however no threat has been reported at this level”.
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