From Staff And Wire Reports Crane Experts Probe Kingdome Deaths

Sat., Aug. 20, 1994

Two crane experts arrived Friday to assist King County police in their investigation of a Kingdome crane accident that dropped two workers 250 feet to their deaths.

Consulting engineer Howard I. Shapiro flew in from Brooklyn, N.Y. He will be working with mechanical engineer James Allen of Milton, near Tacoma.

The Kingdome has been the site of multi-million dollar repairs since ceiling tiles began falling July 19. Crews were working around-the-clock when the two workers were killed and a third injured Wednesday night.

“Forget all the notions that you’ve had in the past and anything the newspaper or the reporters might have said and that’s where you start,” he said.State Department of Labor and Industries spokeswoman Suzanne

Mager backed away Friday from a comment L&I director Mark Brown made Thursday.

“On a preliminary basis, it appears that cable failure is at the heart of this tragedy,” Brown said then.

On Friday, Mager said Brown “was not implying that that was the cause,” simply observing that a broken cable was found.

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