Singapore - An amazing rescue effort, on the sixteenth floor, witnessed by over 50 office workers on the ground, was captured on film as the drama unfolded in the heart of Singapore's business district. Two Chinese men cleaning windows in a gondola became trapped when one of the cables supporting the cleaning unit became entangled, leaving the two men dangling at an angle. With their lives in danger and the very real fear the other cable could snap, a rescue team was despatched to save the men from a fatal plunge to the bottom of the Maybank Tower.
The skyscraper on Battery Road in Raffles Place is in the centre of Singapore's downtown business district. The world-famous district features some of the tallest buildings in Asia. A member of the public called the emergency services at 1600 local time (0300EDT) on Monday, reports asiaone news. It had began to rain heavily and the wind was strong causing the gondola to swing violently back and forth.
A contractor maintaining the gondola was called in to see if it could be lowered safely to the ground floor. It was determined this was not possible, so a rescue team from the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) sent an operative in a safety harness out of a window on the seventeenth floor. He secured the first worker to his own body whilst the other climbed out the gondola and both men were carefully put through a window on the fifteenth floor. Paramedics checked the men over and determined there was no need to send the workers to hospital, reports the Singapore-based newspaper, Electric New Paper. The whole incident was witnessed by a large crowd who had gathered on the streets below, who clapped and cheered when the men were eventually rescued.
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