A storage box containing an estimated 6 tons of steel dangled from a skyscraper over a busy street in San Francisco's Financial District on Sunday.
The box was being lifted to the top of the former Bank of America building on California St. when the crane malfunctioned about 1 p.m local time (4 p.m. ET), police said.
The San Francisco Chronicle reported that when the crane failed, the storage box was left dangling near the 50th floor, or about 600 feet above the street.
Police closed several streets to traffic as crews used a manual crank to lift the storage box to the roof.
San Francisco police Lt. Mark Mahoney told the newspaper that the box was lifted at a rate of about one quarter-inch per crank.
Police said streets in the area reopened Sunday night.