A crane has collapsed in Leith, Edinburgh, leaving two people requiring treatment.
The arm of the crane is understood to have fallen onto flats which are under construction at Drum Property Group's Stead's Place development on Leith Walk shortly before 09:30 on Tuesday morning.
Crane collapse at Stead's Place off Leith Walk in #edinburgh this morning. #construction #accident pic.twitter.com/HjAVikyKTF
— Iain Masterton (@iain_masterton) November 28, 2023
A spokesperson for the Scottish Ambulance Service said: "We received a call at 09:29 today to attend an incident in Leith, Edinburgh.
"We dispatched two ambulances and our special operations team (SORT) to the scene and have treated two patients at the scene."
A Police Scotland spokesperson said: "Around 9.30am on Tuesday, 28 November 2023 we received a report that a crane collapsed at a building site in Steads Place in Edinburgh.
"Emergency services are in attendance.
"There are road closures in place at Leith Walk and Pilrig Street. Motorists and pedestrians are asked to avoid the area."
An eyewitness told the Scottish Sun: "I was on Leith Walk when I heard this crack. I looked up and saw the entire arm of the crane come crashing down on the building.
“The crane came down and it looks like it caused part of the roof to cave in.
“There must have been at least 100 workers in there.
“There’s all sorts of emergency services here, all of Leith Walk has been closed down."
In 2012 a crane collapse in Glasgow left one man dead and another injured after an accident at a construction site in the city centre.
Gary Currie, 39, was pronounced dead at the scene after the incident at Buchanan House in Port Dundas Road, amid ongoing work on the building which housed Network Rail and Transport Scotland, while Alexander Nisbet, 38, was treated for a head injury.
The Health and Safety Executive found an incorrectly performed repair to the crane's boom was responsible for the collapse.
HSE principal inspector, Graeme McMinn, said: "The death of Gary Currie was entirely preventable. Craig Services and Access Ltd and Donald Craig were advised by the manufacturer to replace the damaged boom.
"Instead, they chose a much cheaper repair that left the boom in an unsafe condition.
"At the time of the accident, the mobile elevated working platform had a catalogue of defects, some of which were safety critical demonstrating that Craig Services and Access Ltd did not have an adequate proactive maintenance and reactive repair system in place within the company."
Donald Craig, 57, of Craig Services, was found guilty of health and safety breaches over the accident in 2017 and sentence to two years in prison.
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