Mum and newborn escape through bedroom window after crane crash
A mother and her five-week-old baby were forced to escape through a bedroom window, after a crane delivering a spa toppled over and crashed through her roof in Melbourne’s western suburb Altona.
The crane operator also became stuck during the ordeal, with his colleagues forced to use a crow bar to free him.
“He’s terribly upset and shocked,” Lee Granger, mother of the crane operator said.
“He’s just in too much shock.”
To make matters worse, the owners of the property that suffered the most damage were simply trying to help their neighbour.
The crane operator needed to park his machinery in their front yard, so he could reach the spot next door where the spa was being delivered.
“What’s going through my mind at the moment is bloody hell. That’s about it,” Spa owner Trudy said.
“Took a bit of convincing to allow us to put the crane on their front yard to start with.”
A distraught young mother and her 5-week-old baby were sitting in the front room when the crane tipped and smashed through the front wall.
They had to evacuate from the house through a bedroom window and her husband rushed home from work this afternoon to comfort her.
“That was our number one concern was our neighbour with a new baby,” spa owner Trudy said.
“A spa crashing through fences and a neighbour’s house doesn’t sound good.”
Suspended in the air, the trapped crane driver had to rely on his work mates to climb a ladder and extricate him from the crane with a crow bar.
WorkSafe is investigating how the accident occurred. The damage bill is expected to be tens of thousands of dollars.
The young family has had to seek alternative accommodation for the night. Tomorrow morning, there is hope that the crane will be extricated when two larger cranes come to remove it from the house.
The house will need to be surveyed by builders to find out of the house is safe to return to and structurally sound.
