The man who was at the helm of the crane that caught fire and collapsed in Manhattan’s Hudson Yards Wednesday once had his operating license suspended after a co-worker plummeted 48 stories to his death.
The Department of Buildings identified Chris Van Duyne of Rockaway, New Jersey as the man who was operating a construction crane that snapped and struck a neighboring building before smashing onto the street below.
Despite verifying Van Duyne was the operator, the DOB said records didn’t list the 62-year-old man on the construction paperwork. The DOB couldn’t say whether the commission was unusual and said they were looking into it.
Van Duyne, along with his older brother James Van Duyne, temporarily lost their tower-crane operators’ licenses in September 2008 after a crane rigger fell from a platform attached to the crane.
Anthony Esposito, 43, was working on a 20-foot movable walkway that linked the crane to the glass-walled Silver Towers at the River Place skyscraper on West 42nd Street, The Post reported at the time.
Esposito, a married father of three, was helping the Van Duyne brothers dismantle the crane when he lost his footing and plummeted to his death.
Esposito had been wearing a harness, but it was not hooked up.
At the time of Esposito’s death, the site for the $917 million project built by World Trade Center developer Larry Silverstein had racked up 46 violations and 24 complaints since construction began in Feb. 2006.
Chris and James Van Duyne had each agreed to pay $25,000 fines for their role in the fatal plunge and were ordered to complete 30 hours of DOB training.
Van Duyne lost his Class B hoist machine license — which allows operators to run any crane in the city — for eight months, while James lost his license for six months.
Chris did not immediately respond to The Post’s multiple requests for comment Wednesday.
A person who picked up the phone for a number listed for James immediately hung up after The Post identified itself.
When approached by a Post reporter about the aftermath of the crane collapse Wednesday, Van Duyne simply replied: “I have nothing to say.”
Officials said he had been inside the machine at around 7:30 a.m. while it was perched on the 45th floor of a vacant building under construction at 550 Tenth Ave.
It had been carrying 16 tons of concrete when the cabin area suddenly caught fire.
Van Duyne tried to put out the flames with a fire extinguisher, but he was unable to do so and fled for his life, said FDNY First Deputy Fire Commissioner Joseph Pfeifer.
At least twelve people were injured, including three firefighters, when the crane snapped.
It struck a neighboring building as it plummeted, dragging debris to the ground below.
New York City Crane & Equipment Corp, the company that owns the crane, was founded by a shady construction magnate and self-proclaimed “King of Cranes” whose machines were involved in two deadly incidents more than a decade ago.
The cause of the fire has not yet been determined, but sources at the DOB believe it may have been hydraulic fluid that leaked from the engine compartment of the construction crane, causing a fire on the machine deck.
