Arthur L. Aidala, Mr. Rapetti's lawyer, has argued that the fact that the crane was not bolted down played a critical role in the collapse.
Evans Mutua, 14, was sleeping on a top bunk in the section closest to the door that was not bolted shut.
With no solid ground to bolt the crane into, Mr. Aidala said, the engineer overseeing the crane, Peter J. Stroh, came up with a design in which the crane was not bolted down.
What he hadn't mentioned, and what I was to learn suddenly when I decided to let some fresh air into the room to disperse the lingering odor, was that the A.C. was not bolted to anything.
The developers of the high-rise building the crane was constructing insisted on designing a crane base that was not bolted to the ground, contrary to his initial recommendation, Mr. Stroh said.
Most of the dead were schoolchildren brought to the local Friendship Theater to perform for a visiting group of high-ranking officials, who, in a crucial detail not reported in the official accounts, escaped the blaze unscathed through the single door that was not bolted shut.
