Sarah Wong
SEATTLE (AP) — Seattle Pacific University officials say one of its students was among the four people killed when a construction crane fell from a building and crashed onto one of Seattle’s busiest streets.
The university says in a statement that Sarah Wong was a freshman who intended to major in nursing and lived on campus.
The university said Wong was in a car when the crane fell from a building under construction on Google’s new Seattle campus onto Mercer Street on April 27.
Wong’s friend, Lauren Tan, who she has known since kindergarten, told the Seattle Times that she was passionate about protecting the environment and always carried around reusable straws.
“My initial thought was that this couldn’t actually be happening,” Tan said. “She spread so much love, encouragement and kindness to everyone around her.”
Tim Church, a spokesman for the Washington Department of Labor & Industries, says the agency formally opened an investigation into four companies — general contractor GLY, Northwest Tower Crane Service Inc., Omega Rigging and Machinery Moving Inc., and Morrow Equipment Co. LLC. Church said he didn’t know where the companies are based.
Investigators said the crane was being disassembled when it collapsed and that they are still looking into how the accident happened.