A crane at a data center construction site in Melbourne, Australia, toppled onto power lines and crushed a car in an incident that left its operator trapped inside the machine.

Emergency services were called to the scene, a building site on Swann Drive in Derrimut, west Melbourne, at 10.30am local time on Wednesday, August 27. It is thought the incident occurred at AirTrunk’s Mel1 data center.

They found the crane tangled in live power lines and resting on vehicles. Specialist fire crews worked to safely free the crane driver, who was trapped for just under an hour. He was assessed by paramedics for mild shock, but does not appear to have sustained any injuries.

No one was in the car under the crane.

Winds of up to 40 kmh (24 mph) were reported in the area on Wednesday, but it is not known if this was a factor in the crane’s collapse.

In the wake of the incident, a safety alert was sent to construction workers across Victoria by Zach Smith, secretary of trade union CFMEU’s Victoria branch.

“Due to today’s crane collapse in Derrimut, please ensure cranes are not operating in high winds and that they stay within the manufacturer’s recommendations,” he said.

DCD has contacted AirTrunk for comment on the incident.

The Blackstone-owned firm launched MEL1 back in 2017, saying it would eventually offer 50MW of capacity, though the AirTrunk website says the site now offers more than 185MW to customers, making it one of Australia’s largest hyperscale facilities.

However, last year it said it was planning an expansion to deliver 100MW of additional space at a cost of AU$1 billion (US$665m).