FINANCIAL DISTRICT — An emergency services officer rappelled down the face of a skyscraper to rescue two workers trapped in a scaffold dangling precariously 15 stories off the ground Tuesday morning, officials said.
The two men were on the scaffold at the 27-story 33 Maiden Lane, near Nassau Street, when it suddenly lurched at a diagonal angle about 9:50 a.m., officials and witnesses said.
(NYPD)
A bucket fell from the platform and hit the ground, witnesses said.
"All the water fell down and made a big splash," said Bobby Wells, 47, a sanitation worker who was nearby at the time.
"I was praying for the guys and glad it didn't fall on me."
@FDNY @NYPDnews on scene in #Fidi to rescue someone hanging from a building. @ABC7NY #nyc #BREAKING pic.twitter.com/RaYGyt4tmY
— ny (@The_Last_View) May 10, 2016
Jerry Rivera, 56, a veteran who was cutting someone's hair in his barber shop at the time, watched as the ESU officer rappelled down the side of the building to the trapped men about 10:35 a.m.
"I was cutting someone's hair. I saw people looking up. People in New York, when they look up, you know something is up," Rivera said.
"They did a rappel job. That can be dangerous. I did it in the military. You make one little mistake, you got problems. He did it pretty fast."
Meanwhile, crews inside cut the glass of the 16th-floor window and pulled the workers in once they'd been secured with safety rope, officials said.
"They were obviously very shaken, hesitant, clinging onto the railing for dear life," said Kai Li, 25, a nearby construction worker.
They were brought to Lower Manhattan Hospital for evaluation, officials said.
"They were a little upset. Dangling up there is pretty precarious," said FDNY chief Michael Gala.
It wasn't immediately clear why the scaffold halted, but Gala said "the scaffold had a defect in it."
