2 window washers saved as scaffold swings into NYC skyscraper
Two New York City window washers were rescued after their scaffold starting swinging uncontrollably into a Midtown Manhattan skyscraper.
The workers were more than 70 stories up the side of 25 Columbus Circle, located at the corner of 58th Street and Ninth Avenue on the city's Upper West Side, when the scaffolding started swinging out of control Friday morning.
Video shows the workers stuck in the dangling scaffolding basket, which smashed into windows on the 78th floor and sent shattered glass raining down onto the sidewalk.
"The scaffolding wasn't attached and it was swinging around, just smacking into the building," NYPD Deputy Chief Michael Trahan said at a news conference.
High wind also played a factor, officials said.
"I couldn't believe what I was seeing"
Mohamad Sherif watched the chaos from his halal cart on the corner.
"It was awful, moving like that for almost about 15 minutes," he said. "All the glass fell down here on the sidewalk, even on the bottom of my cart here."
"There's glass pretty much all over the sidewalk when we pulled up," said FDNY Lt. Nick Schneider.
Firefighters went up to an apartment on the 78th floor, where at least three windows were blown out. Quickly, they noticed the trapped window washers had safety harnesses on, but they were not attached to any safety lines.
"I couldn't believe what I was seeing, the fact that they weren't tied off," Schneider said. "Fortunately, both sides of the scaffolding remained level because they weren't secured to anything."
Firefighters secured the window washers with ropes and pulled them inside the building, Trahan said. Both were treated by EMS and taken to the hospital in stable condition.
No one inside the building or on the sidewalk below were hurt by the shattered glass.
A private rigging company will remove the scaffolding basket, the New York Department of Buildings said.
