Toppled down

Gosh, I just heard about this construction boom toppling down at about midnight and crushing two pre-war houses at the junction of Transfer Road and Sri Bahari Road. Worse, one man was reported to be killed while three others suffered serious injuries. And I can see the other end of the boom resting on the highrise building in the background. Surely, the force from the falling boom would have damaged that building too? From newspaper reports, the crane was being used to build a 20-storey hotel diagonally across from the destroyed houses.

AFTER the accident

BEFORE the accident

While the authorities are trying to find the cause for this accident, I've a hunch why it happened. I'm sure there is a combination of reasons but I would guess that ground stability is the main one. I hear that a big ditch or canal used to run parallel or beneath the road. The ditch or canal could have been filled up but the instability of the soil would remain. Who knows but this proposed 20-storey hotel could be coming up on this unstable land? If so, the construction boom would have been dangerously erected and it won't take much force, like violent gusts of wind, to bring it down. Just my speculation, of course.