Lyndhurst Road closure: Pictures show huge 5-hour rescue effort to save stricken crane in Worthing

An imbalanced crane in Worthing’s Lyndhurst Road has caused a scene this afternoon as a heavy rescue operation, involving three additional cranes, was underway.

By The Newsroom
Wednesday, 17th April 2019, 6:23 pm
Updated Wednesday, 17th April 2019, 6:27 pm
Workers from Storage on Site battle to stabilise the stricken crane SUS-190417-153939001
Workers from Storage on Site battle to stabilise the stricken crane SUS-190417-153939001

These pictures show crews’ valiant efforts to stabilise the machinery.

The crane, from storage company Storage on Site, came into difficulty unloading a lorry

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A spokesman for the company said one of its support legs had fallen through some paving, leaving it unbalanced
A second crane, also from SoS, was brought in to stabilise its stricken partner to save it from falling over
Emergency services responded to the scene and backup was called in to the junction with Windsor Road
Eventually, four cranes were deployed - three from SoS and a larger one from the fire service's Technical Rescue Unit
A plucky engineer was lowered down to attach chain to the stricken load after the fire service arrived at 10.50am
The leaning crane had been left unbalanced by its irregular load, which was perched on another container
Commenters on the breaking story observed SoS was apt branding for the unfortunate crane
A tweet from Adur and Worthing police described the incident as a 'crane issue' and closed the road.
Motorists were forced to take detours around Lyndhurst Road before the crane was released at about 4pm.