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Cranes topple onto Dutch homes

AMSTERDAM — Rescuers pulled a survivor from beneath the wreckage of apartments and shops flattened Monday shortly after two cranes being used to restore a bridge in a central Dutch city toppled onto a row of buildings, a Fire Department spokesman said.

One man was pulled alive from the rubble in Alphen aan den Rijn, and rescuers including sniffer dogs planned to work deep into the night combing the scene for any other victims who might have been trapped, said Ton Koot, a spokesman for the local Fire Department.

‘‘We hope that the number of victims stays at this one man who was taken to the hospital with hip problems,’’ Koot said in a telephone interview.

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Earlier, Koot said that initial reports of between seven and 20 injured victims were based on estimates of the number of people who might have been in the houses when the cranes slammed into them.

‘‘We are stabilizing the situation so rescue workers can go in,’’ Koot said.

Dramatic amateur video aired by national broadcaster NOS showed the towering orange cranes on a pontoon on the Rijn river carrying a large section of the bridge, when they begin to sway and then topple onto houses, slamming through the buildings and sending a cloud of dust into the air.

Associated Press