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Giant Cranes Topple Over And Crush Homes

Two large cranes being used to restore a bridge in the Netherlands have flattened a number of buildings.

Amateur video showed the cranes toppling over on a pontoon on the River Rhine, in the central Dutch town of Alphen aan den Rijn.

Onlookers can be heard screaming as the cranes fall on nearby houses.

They collapsed as they tried to hoist a section of the Queen Juliana Bridge.

Dick van Smirren, who filmed the collapse, said: "You see the cloud of dust rise - that is a terrible image and you think: 'Who is under there?'"

One person was pulled alive from the rubble as rescue workers with sniffer dogs picked through the destruction.

Earlier reports that up to 20 people had been injured were based on the number of people thought to have been in the houses at the time if the accident.

"We hope that the number of victims stays at this one man who was taken to hospital with hip problems," Ton Koot, a spokesman for the local fire department, said.