A construction crew was in the process of “stepping” the crane, or adding a section to raise its height, when an elevated equipment platform gave way, sending its load onto bridge traffic below, the city’s fire and rescue chief Stephen Gollan said.

Two vehicles were struck by the fallen structure of steel girders and struts, which gouged a hole in the surface of the bridge and left three people with non-life-threatening injuries, Gollan said.

Two of them, a man and a woman from separate vehicles, were taken to the hospital for treatment, while the third person declined to be transported.

The man who went to the hospital, identified by local television station WSVN-TV as Mark Cerezin, said a fallen piece of the crane landed on a minivan in front of him, then bounced and sliced through part of his vehicle as he hit the brakes.

“It took off the front of my car, and I’m completely fine,” he told WSVN.

A construction worker who was on or near the platform when it collapsed fell to his death, Gollan said.

The bridge over the New River was closed for repairs, and the cause of the accident, which occurred at the start of the evening rush hour in downtown Fort Lauderdale, was under investigation, he added.