Window Cleaners Fall From New York Skyscraper After 'Scaffolding Malfunction'

Two window cleaners were thrown off a skyscraper in New York after their 'scaffolding malfunctioned'.

The two men plunged two storeys from the 101-storey 30 Hudson Yards yesterday (14 November), but managed to survive.

According to reports, both men were rushed to hospital, with one suffering serious injuries while the other only sustained minor ones.

It's understood that the two men were washing windows on the 50th floor of the building when the scaffolding seemingly failed during their controlled descent.

Authorities said that the platform they were standing on came to a sudden stop at the 37th floor, throwing them from the platform and down onto a roof a further two floors below.

Emergency responders struggled to get to the men quickly due to the sheer size of the building.

PA

In the end, they had to cut a hole in a window in order to get them down.

A spokesperson for the New York Fire Department told The New York Post: "Upon arrival units found a scaffolding with two window washers on it had fallen 20 feet to a lower level and was sitting on a structure on the roof of the 35th floor.

"That would be two storeys [they fell], but that's substantial. That's enough of a fall.

"I think it was a storage shed that broke their fall."

The spokesperson added: "It sounds like they're going to be all right, but they're banged up."

At the moment, it is not yet known what caused the malfunction.

PA

The building, on the West Side of Manhattan, is the fourth tallest in New York City, and is well-known for its triangular observation deck on the 101st floor called 'the Edge'.

It opened in 2019 and a number of the world's leading companies have offices within the building, including Warner Media and Facebook.

This incident comes just a few weeks after a group of workers were injured when scaffolding collapsed at the construction site of 50 Hudson Yards.

According to reports, three of the four workers sustained minor injuries while the other was treated for severe, but non-life-threatening injuries.

They were taken to NYC Health + Hospitals/Bellevue and St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital Center.

Topics: Hospital, US News, Ambulance

Dominic Smithers

Dominic graduated from the University of Leeds with a degree in French and History. Like you, Dom has often questioned how much use a second language has been. Well, after stints working at the Manchester Evening News, the Accrington Observer and the Macclesfield Express, along with never setting foot in France, he realised the answer is surprisingly little. But I guess, c'est la vie. Contact us at [email protected]

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