A drilling rig fell at Oregon Health & Science University in Portland late Friday morning, trapping the operator inside.
Courtesy Portland Fire & Rescue
A large construction drilling rig tipped over at a construction site in Southwest Portland, trapping its operator inside.
It took rescuers about 15 minutes to remove the operator from the rig, according to a Portland Fire & Rescue spokesperson. The operator was transported to a trauma center, where he remains in critical condition. No other people were injured.
The 100,000-pound rig fell at the Oregon Health & Science University campus on Southwest Campus Drive, where the hospital system is expanding. In a statement, the construction company, Skanska, said its staff are investigating the cause, and that the company doesn’t have permission to release the operator’s name.
Editor’s note: The machinery that fell was a drilling rig. An earlier version of this article repeated early official reports that misstated the type of machinery involved.
Crews on scene of 100k lb construction crane that tipped over with operator pinned inside, 545 sw campus dr, crews extricating victim now. PIO en route to scene. Extent of injuries to crane operator unknown at this time, victim transported to trauma center.
— Portland Fire & Rescue (@PDXFire) August 12, 2022
