One of Manhattan's busiest streets was closed for hours, only opening up before 7 a.m. today after a crane collapse around 10:30 p.m. on Monday night. A knuckleboom crane's hydraulic system failed, causing the boom to fall near West 34th Street and 7th Avenue.

The crane had been "carrying I-beams for a sidewalk shed just before it malfunctioned. There was also a large hydraulic fluid leak due to the malfunction," according to NBC New York.

"Apparently the beams they were using for the structure was overloaded. It's a 'knuckle crane' and a pin broke to cause the crane to collapse and crash onto the ground," FDNY chief Anthony Pascocello told reporters. (The sidewalk shed is being constructed for the Kmart at 250 West 34th Street.)

(Garment District, Manhattan) Man Injured in Crane Collapse — A boom crane carrying construction materials broke onto the sidewalk outside Penn Station, injuring one civilian. Updates and video here: https://t.co/HrV8PJdSBn #ProtectTheWorld #CitizenApp #CitizenApp_NYC pic.twitter.com/mL6MQ2H9DO

— Citizen NYC (@CitizenApp_NYC) March 19, 2019

The crane operator suffered a minor injury to his foot.

Lifting Solutions Boom Service, which was operating the crane, said to PIX 11 that this had never happened to them before, "it was obviously an equipment malfunction." Interestingly, knuckleboom trucks do not require permits from the Department of Buildings.

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