[v1r]

"Two workers died in Voskresensk while cleaning the roof of a house from snow. It all happened a couple of hours ago.
The tower on which the workers were located broke, and they fell from a great height."

[William May]

Hard to believe that sectional crane was that weak. I doubt the guys and the stand weighed even 1000 lbs. That thing should have been able to lift a couple of tons, easily! That's like a construction crane that fell over because they hoisted a watermelon with it!

[v1r]

Originally Posted by William May ↗

Hard to believe that sectional crane was that weak. I doubt the guys and the stand weighed even 1000 lbs. That thing should have been able to lift a couple of tons, easily! That's like a construction crane that fell over because they hoisted a watermelon with it!

Probably incredibly poorly maintained.

[Faust]

It was either made in china or made in the Soviet Union

[mshope24]

Seeing the phrase, “from a great height” reminds me of that Radiohead song.

[BiothDaSloth]

They didn't die from the fall; they froze to death and made it look like a fall because of Putin

[icehole]

Metal fatigue and freezing??
Never heard of one before, though

[Bleed]

I think the temperature, the apparent full extension of the arm and the angle of elevation were all contributing factors. They were probably bouncing around a lot too, which isn't particularly healthy for most high-alloy steels when they're very cold.

Google... Cold weather also creates an impact on the functioning of your cranes as low temperatures can reduce the crane’s tensile strength & cause failure. The hydraulic system can also weaken in cold weather. So you should reduce the load weight by 25% in subzero temperatures & if it is lower than -20 degrees, reduce the weight by 40%. Other precautions against cold weather include investing in a cold-weather motor, adding a cold weather finish to the crane & using conductor bars to protect the crane’s joints.

[DeadJeff]

Made in China.

[houseoftechno]

I too am surprised. From that distance, it looks like a tensile strength failure of the biggest black arm section. That arm system should have been designed for at least a 1000lb live load in the cage, plus the beam weight dead load at full near-horizontal extension, plus adverse temperature affects on the material strength, plus some additional wind loads, plus a safety factor. I'm calling it a failure due to underdesign of the arm beam structure.