Workers trapped 68 floors up at One World Trade Center rescued

NEW YORK --Two window washers needed to be rescued after becoming trapped on scaffolding near the 68th floor of One World Trade Center Wednesday.

CBS New York reported the incident began at around 12:45 p.m. on the south side of the building. Initial reports suggest the washers were done cleaning the windows and were about to ascend to to the top of the tower when the cable that pulls the scaffold up became loose.

Images from the scene showed the scaffolding dangling at a precarious angle as emergency responders from the Police and Fire Departments along with the Port Authority tried to get to the workers.

Members of the FDNY cut through two layers of glass with a diamond saw and pulled the workers to safety around 2:10 p.m.

The FDNY was in communication with the workers throughout the entire ordeal, CBS2 reported.

The workers, identified by their employer, Upgrade Services, as Juan Lizama and Juan Lopez, were taken to a hospital with mild hypothermia, CBS Radio station 1010 WINS reported.

One worker has four to five years experience; the other has been on the job for 15 years, CBS2 reported.

In a statement released Wednesday afternoon, Upgrade Services explained that an equipment failure in the break mechanism that secures one side of the rig caused the accident.

"Our men remained calm and awaited rescue in an extremely tense and precarious situation," the statement said. "The world of high rise window cleaning is a fraternity and we all are relieved that both of our brothers were rescued safely today."

Emergency responders at the scene saw they had two options to rescue Lizama and Lopez.

"We were either going to go with scaffolding and lower it down to the guys and they would transfer over to another scaffolding safely," New York Fire Dept. Lt. Billy Ryan told CBS New York. "And the other option we were going with, which we were involved with was there's three panes of glass and basically cutting the glass away," which rescuers eventually chose.

The 104-story, $3.9 billion skyscraper opened for business last week. At 1,776-feet tall, One World Trade Center is America's tallest building. The building stands at the northwest corner of the site where the twin towers were destroyed in the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks.

The area around immediately surrounding the building has been closed off. The National September 11 Memorial & Museum has been temporarily closed as a result of the rescue operation.

Onlookers said the tension brought them to a stop. Jose Vasquez, who works in the area, told WCBS that Lower Manhattan came to a standstill as everyone watched.

"Scary moments, yes; very scary," he said.

Mayor Bill de Blasio said safety precautions were taken in case the scaffold fell.

"Great care was taken on the ground to create a space to make sure that if God forbid the carriage had fallen that people below would not be harmed," he said.

Last year, the New York Fire Department rescued two window washers stuck hovering at the 44th floor of a Midtown Manhattan high rise.