Excavator lift. And drop....

"Thomas Donohue" (tomonomics) 10/15/2020 at 10:38 • Filed to: None

6

44

While removing an excavator from a huge tunnel dig in Hong Kong, something

went wrong. And it was a long way down....

First video.....

Second video has sound......glorious sound.

Future next gen S2000 owner > Thomas Donohue 10/15/2020 at 10:47

4

Some one is getting fired.

Michael > Thomas Donohue 10/15/2020 at 10:54

12

Based on a 5 second fall time, something like 400 feet down at least, unless that was just the sound of clipping the side of the tunnel

facw > Thomas Donohue 10/15/2020 at 10:55

1

Oops...

I hope that anyone down below was looking up, giving them enough time to get the fuck away when it started tipping.

Thomas Donohue > Thomas Donohue 10/15/2020 at 10:56

10

Additi onal picture of the shaft....

SBA Thanks You For All The Fish > Michael 10/15/2020 at 10:57

5

And, that, is how nice it is to live in a world where people understand Physics.

thanks!

SBA Thanks You For All The Fish > facw 10/15/2020 at 10:57

1

It was nice that the guys up top had time to react.

Jetstreamer > Future next gen S2000 owner 10/15/2020 at 11:00

13

Don’t you mean... shafted?

ibRAD > Thomas Donohue 10/15/2020 at 11:03

10

I don’t know if it’s just the camera angle, but that guy is pretty non-chalant about those chains whipping around beside him.

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > Thomas Donohue 10/15/2020 at 11:04

5

Yeah no thanks. I’d rather not have a giant piece of construction equipment fall down that with me anywhere nearby. 

kanadanmajava1 > Thomas Donohue 10/15/2020 at 11:05

9

The guy wearing green at least knows what to do in emergency.

-Start the video record when things start to look accident prone
-Don’t panic! Avoid running
-Hold the camera steadily and p oint it towards the action
-Retreat calmly if the the situation looks dangerous
-When things are calm ing today advance to the disaster area and point the camera towards to he disaster remains

Thomas Donohue > ibRAD 10/15/2020 at 11:22

1

Yeah, the whole scale of this is hard to grasp.....yet hardly anyone seems concerned or worried. Maybe it happens a lot???

Tripper > Thomas Donohue 10/15/2020 at 11:29

4

LOL that boom at the end...so satisfying, straight out of the cartoons

ibRAD > Thomas Donohue 10/15/2020 at 11:29

2

* shrugs*

Tripper > Jetstreamer 10/15/2020 at 11:37

2

Michael > Thomas Donohue 10/15/2020 at 11:40

0

You can see when the hoist operator realizes it’s going, full speed but not enough to get it over land

For Sweden > Thomas Donohue 10/15/2020 at 12:18

2

This is your infrastructure project on communism

HammerheadFistpunch > Thomas Donohue 10/15/2020 at 12:19

14

Fake. Movies have taught me there would be a huge fireball coming up the pit and a man in a suit rolling out of it just in time if it were real.

A Boy and His Longtail > Thomas Donohue 10/15/2020 at 12:33

2

What was the plan here? Was there a plan?

Thomas Donohue > HammerheadFistpunch 10/15/2020 at 12:34

1

It’s the leaked trailer of the delayed James Bond movie.

Thomas Donohue > A Boy and His Longtail 10/15/2020 at 12:36

6

From what I read, they were raising it. So it got all the way up that shaft....but the swing to the side wasn’t successful. Talk a bout getting 99% of the job done....

If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent > Thomas Donohue 10/15/2020 at 12:40

2

So those big pipe pits from mirror ’s edge DO exist!

krustywantout > Thomas Donohue 10/15/2020 at 12:40

1

This is the reason airplanes and ships have load engineers. The Smithsonian Channel has an episode of Mighty Planes where they are loading a 747-8F after a Formula E race and it’s amazing all of the things that need to be accounted for when they are loading the plane.

bob and john > Thomas Donohue 10/15/2020 at 13:12

0

....crunch

CarsofFortLangley - Oppo Forever > Thomas Donohue 10/15/2020 at 13:53

12

James Bond and the OSHA meeting of doom.

CarsofFortLangley - Oppo Forever > ibRAD 10/15/2020 at 14:01

1

It’s Hong Kong....so not really  China.  But more so now.

gmporschenut also a fan of hondas > krustywantout 10/15/2020 at 14:17

2

Yeah  Air Disasters “Afghan nightmare” about national airlines flight 102. Doesn’t take much for stuff to start moving 

Urambo Tauro > Thomas Donohue 10/15/2020 at 21:15

2

See ya later, excavator!

ttyymmnn > Thomas Donohue 10/15/2020 at 21:53

0

That’s not gone well. 

Saracen > Tripper 10/15/2020 at 23:53

0

It was like a louder version of sound that accompanies  the mushroom cloud at the end of Wile E. Coyote’s long fall.

Chan - Mid-engine with cabin fever > Thomas Donohue 10/16/2020 at 00:59

0

This is part of a huge underground highway project. The scale of the project is immense, even by Hong Kong standards.

The video is pretty frightening, as expected —at least nobody got hurt, although the sheer scale of the blunder makes it difficult to excuse . I suspect someone took shortcuts and used an undersized contraption, or insufficient fastening, for the lifting operation.

Chan - Mid-engine with cabin fever > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available 10/16/2020 at 01:02

2

At least they made sure to vacate the bottom during the lift. Still, the guy nonchalantly walking around with the snapped chains whipping around doesn’t look very reassuring.

Chan - Mid-engine with cabin fever > Future next gen S2000 owner 10/16/2020 at 01:03

1

In the 1st video you can even see the interruption of power to the lower shaft lights. I’m guessing an emergency generator kicked in and a few of the lights came back on.

I hope someone gets fined, and a short prison sentence might even be appropriate.

Chan - Mid-engine with cabin fever > A Boy and His Longtail 10/16/2020 at 01:23

2

Seems like the excavator didn’t have its arm fully retracted. I don’t see any other reason why it went off-balance.

More redundant fastening chains would probably have helped too.

Jim Spanfeller > Thomas Donohue 10/16/2020 at 01:41

1

I guess you could say that job has its pitfalls...

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > Chan - Mid-engine with cabin fever 10/16/2020 at 08:22

0

Yeah I think it might be the perspective but he was a little closer than I would have been to the snapped chains. 

TotallyThatStupid > Thomas Donohue 10/16/2020 at 10:35

0

facw > CarsofFortLangley - Oppo Forever 10/16/2020 at 10:59

0

I’m really not sure there’s much of a distinction these days. Driving on the other side of the road doesn’t matter much when you are under Beijing’s boot.

mhr555 > ibRAD 10/16/2020 at 11:32

0

Yeah, that guy in green is like “ain’t no big deal man...” 

CarsofFortLangley - Oppo Forever > facw 10/16/2020 at 11:35

0

There’s still quite a bit of distinction. I had family go there in the last year and friends who come/go often enough.

InFierority Complex > If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent 10/16/2020 at 11:53

1

Well, yes actually. The pipe section and the storm drain were based off a tsunami drainage system in Tokyo. I think the game still made it quite a bit bigger,

hillrat > ibRAD 10/16/2020 at 12:57

0

Came here for this, left satisfied. Did you notice he was filming the whole time too?

ibRAD > hillrat 10/16/2020 at 13:03

1

I didn’t notice the filming! Maybe that’s why he was oblivious to what was going on around him!

Chan - Mid-engine with cabin fever > kanadanmajava1 10/16/2020 at 15:50

0

Maybe he has an IG handle on his vest and helmet , like construction_fail_hk?

Chan - Mid-engine with cabin fever > Thomas Donohue 10/16/2020 at 16:33

0

I think going down that temporary staircase as part of normal work would be nerve-wracking enough.