PHOTOS: Diane Stewart is used to the occasional construction noise coming from the work site near her Mueller neighborhood apartment In East Austin. But on Wednesday morning, she heard something that made her pause.
“It sounded like pipes falling. It was a loud crash; it made me turn,” Stewart said.
What Stewart heard was two construction cranes colliding, causing dozens of people beneath the cranes to flee. Medics responded at 9:38 a.m. to the site in the 1600 block of Robert Browning Street, just north of Mueller Lake Park near Dell Children’s Medical Center.
When medics arrived, they tended to 22 people, with 16 being taken to a hospital. EMS Capt. Darren Noak said none of the injuries was considered life-threatening.
People got injured while running from the crane collision, Noak said. He did not know what, if any, debris fell or hit the area near the cranes.
Rescuers did not make immediately clear what the extent of the injuries were or whether all the people injured were construction workers.