Crane topples over onto Laurentius building

During construction work on a nearby office building, a crane toppled over and landed on the roof of Laurentius’s society building. It pierces a large hole in the centre of the roof’s ridge. There were no casualties.

The accident happened last Tuesday morning, during work on an office building behind the student association’s hall on Infirmeriestraat in Kralingen. No one was in the building at the time of the accident.

The crane’s operator also survived the incident in one piece – apart from getting a terrible scare, that is. “Normally, the crane powers down whenever it gets near its tipping point. That clearly didn’t happen this time round,” said the operator. It was now a question of waiting for a hoist that could put the 60-m tall crane back on its feet.

Ruud Lubbers

At Infirmeriestraat, two Laurentius members were peering somewhat despondently at the crane balanced on their building’s roof. The Board of Laurentius hadn’t arrived on the scene yet: according to the members, they were attending the funeral of Laurentius’s honorary member and former Dutch prime minister Ruud Lubbers, which was being held elsewhere in Rotterdam at the same time.