Witnesses describe crane collapse at Burleigh as ‘scary like plane landing’

A Gold Coast highrise development site crane has collapsed in what witnesses have described as a “scary” moment that sounded like a commercial airliner landing. See the photos

The swift brutal storm that hit the Gold Coast on Christmas night has sparked a crane collpase at a Burleigh highrise development site.

The Esplanade at Burleigh Heads was closed on Tuesday morning between 1st and 2nd avenues after a crane on Vitale Group’s Mondrian towers was damaged and collapsed during the storm.

Emergency services were called to the site around 9:25 pm to reports that a crane had tipped and folded.

Sydney holiday-maker Tony Pierce said the roar of the wind sounded “like a plane landing”.

“We were sitting on the balcony looking at the storm and all the lightening and heard this huge wind and we thought it was a plane landing and looked up,” he said.

“My young fellow looked at the crane and said ‘dad the crane is bending over’ as we heard the crunching metal and the boom swinging down.

A crane on the Mondrian towers in Burleigh Heads damaged during the Christmas Day storms. Picture: Glenn Hampson.

“I thought something had it (the crane). It was pretty scary and turbulent kind of wind.

“I hope nobody was underneath it when it came down. We were concerned it was going to swing down into other units.”

Hutchies managing director Russell Fryer said nobody was injured by the damaged crane.

“Last night a severe thunderstorm hit the Gold Coast and damaged a tower crane on one of our construction sites in Burleigh Heads,” he said.

“There was no one on site at the time, and the area was secured overnight (and) we are working closely with engineers and authorities to assess the extent of damage and to prepare plans to safely remove the crane in coming days.”

Originally published as Witnesses describe crane collapse at Burleigh as ‘scary like plane landing’