Window washers rescued from scaffold dangling at 1 World Trade Center
Two window washers caught on dangling scaffolding on the 69th floor of New York City’s One World Trade Center were pulled to safety on Wednesday through a window cut in the tallest U.S. skyscraper, a building official said.
Mechanical error appeared to trap the workers, both veteran window washers, on a small platform dangling vertically from cables, according to Gerard McEneany, director of the window washing division at the building in lower Manhattan told NY 1 television.
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- People take photos of a scaffold carrying two workers hanging 69 floors up at One World Trade Center on November 12, 2014 in New York City. The workers were washing windows 69 floors up soon after One World Trade Center, the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere, opened. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
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- A scaffold carrying two workers hangs 69 floors up at One World Trade Center on November 12, 2014 in New York City. The workers were washing windows 69 floors up soon after One World Trade Center, the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere, opened. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
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- People are cleared from the Ground Zero Memorial due to a dangling scaffold carrying two workers hangs 69 floors up at One World Trade Center on November 12, 2014 in New York City. The workers were washing windows 69 floors up soon after One World Trade Center, the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere, opened. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
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- People look up at a scaffold carrying two workers hanging 69 floors up at One World Trade Center on November 12, 2014 in New York City. The workers were washing windows 69 floors up soon after One World Trade Center, the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere, opened. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
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- Construction workers look up at a scaffold carrying two workers hanging 69 floors up at One World Trade Center on November 12, 2014 in New York City. The workers were washing windows 69 floors up soon after One World Trade Center, the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere, opened. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
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- A scaffold carrying two workers hangs 69 floors up at One World Trade Center on November 12, 2014 in New York City. The workers were washing windows 69 floors up soon after One World Trade Center, the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere, opened. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
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- Stranded window washers hang on the side of One World Trade Center November 12, 2014. New York City fire fighters were trying to rescue at least one window washer on Wednesday thought to be trapped on broken scaffolding that was dangling outside the 69th floor of One World Trade Center, local officials said. (Brendan McDermid/Reuters)
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- Construction workers look up at scaffold carrying two workers hanging 69 floors up at One World Trade Center on November 12, 2014 in New York City. The workers were washing windows 69 floors up soon after 1 World Trade Center, the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere, opened. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
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- A woman looks out from a car at a dangling scaffold at the 1 World Trade Center on November 12, 2014 in New York City. The workers were washing windows 69 floors up soon after 1 World Trade Center, the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere, opened. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
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- A scaffold carrying two workers hangs 69 floors up at One World Trade Center on November 12, 2014 in New York City. The workers were washing windows 69 floors up soon after 1 World Trade Center, the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere, opened. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
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- Stranded window washers hang on the side of One World Trade Center November 12, 2014. New York City fire fighters were trying to rescue at least one window washer on Wednesday thought to be trapped on broken scaffolding that was dangling outside the 69th floor of One World Trade Center, local officials said. (Brendan McDermid/Reuters)
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- Stranded window washers hang on the side of One World Trade Center November 12, 2014. New York City fire fighters were trying to rescue at least one window washer on Wednesday thought to be trapped on broken scaffolding that was dangling outside the 69th floor of One World Trade Center, local officials said. (Brendan McDermid/Reuters)
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- People look up at scaffold carrying two workers hanging 69 floors up at One World Trade Center on November 12, 2014 in New York City. The workers were washing windows 69 floors up soon after 1 World Trade Center, the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere, opened. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
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- Construction workers look up at scaffold carrying two workers hanging 69 floors up at One World Trade Center on November 12, 2014 in New York City. The workers were washing windows 69 floors up soon after 1 World Trade Center, the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere, opened. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)Construction workers look up at scaffold carrying two workers hanging 69 floors up at One World Trade Center on November 12, 2014 in New York City. The workers were washing windows 69 floors up soon after 1 World Trade Center, the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere, opened. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
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- A picture tweeted by the New York City Fire Department appears to show workers trapped on scaffolding outside 1 World Trade Center in New York November 12, 2014. New York City fire fighters were trying to rescue at least one window washer on Wednesday thought to be trapped on broken scaffolding that was dangling outside the 69th floor of One World Trade Center, local officials said. (NYFD via Reuters)
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- Stranded window washers hang on the side of One World Trade Center November 12, 2014. New York City fire fighters were trying to rescue at least one window washer on Wednesday thought to be trapped on broken scaffolding that was dangling outside the 69th floor of One World Trade Center, local officials said. (Brendan McDermid/Reuters)
The oblong, open-topped platform could be seen hanging at a 45-degree angle outside the skyscraper’s glassy facade, swaying very slightly, high above the National September 11 Memorial in lower Manhattan. The 104-floor tower at the site of the destroyed Twin Towers, is the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere.
Rescue teams above lowered down what appeared to be some sort of communications device down into the scaffolding, according to a Reuters witness, while workers in nearby offices clustered around their windows to watch the rescue.
About 20 minutes later, rescuers started to lower a second scaffolding platform down the tower’s facade.
Tenants began moving into the newly opened tower last week. The tower rises 1,776 feet above the ground and replaces the Twin Towers destroyed in the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.
“Things like this happen all the time in the city,” Ray Elmadolar, a construction manager who works at a neighboring office building, said as he watched the unfolding operation, “but you don’t want it to happen so high up.”
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