Auckland Window Cleaner Falls Four Storeys

Woman critical after four-storey fall: A woman who witnessed a teenage window cleaner plummet four storeys in Auckland this afternoon is struggling to come to terms with what she saw. The 18-year-old was abseiling on the side of a Lion Breweries building on Carlton Gore Rd, Newmarket, when something went wrong at about 2.30pm. Lion external relations director Liz Read said the incident was "incredibly disturbing'' for everyone at the scene. "It was incredibly shocking and we just can't believe that the woman has survived the fall. It's just devastating. "We're just focusing on supporting our workers now, and we're obviously very keen to know about her condition as well.'' Ms Read said Lion did not own the building but leased it from another company, which had hired the window cleaner. The Department of Labour is investigating. One witness, who did not wish to be identified, said it appeared a metal anchor at the top of the building, which the girl's rope was attached to, had broken.

CRITICALLY HURT: A teenage girl is helped into an ambulance after falling three storeys from an Auckland building today.

Teenager critical after fall: An Auckland office worker has told of the horror of seeing a teenager falling three storeys to the ground in front of her eyes. The Diners Club call centre manager, who only wanted to be known as Theresa, was on the fourth floor of her Newmarket office when she heard a colleague gasp around 2.30pm and turned to witness the accident. "I was talking to a colleague and she went 'oh my God', and I turned around and we saw her falling," the 30-year-old mother of four said.

The 18-year-old was abseiling down the Lion Nathen Building on Carlton Gore Rd when the metal anchor she was attached to is believed to have broken off, sending her plummeting about 30m to the ground. Theresa said she ran to the window where she saw a witness walk up to the young woman's body then leave. "I ran down there to see if she was breathing. There were a few people standing around her doing nothing.

They were saying, 'don't touch her'... I thought, 'God she might be dead', but I had to check to see if she was breathing so I kneeled down beside her and felt for a pulse on her arm," she recalled. "I couldn't feel one, but two others starting rubbing her back and we could see she was breathing. "She didn't gain consciousness but started to try and move herself. "She started making noises so we knew she was alive."

Louisa Kuypers, 18, is in a critical condition after falling four storeys in Newmarket today.

Another man had called 111 and Theresa spoke to emergency services who told her to make sure the young woman wasn't moved. They arrived about 10 minutes later. Theresa said it was a long wait and she initially feared they had gone to the wrong address. "I was quite worried, her breathing was becoming more shallow and she was changing colour." Theresa said the young woman had serious head injuries and "serious bleeding". She was taken by ambulance to Auckland Hospital and has critical injuries.

Another witness Wi Bian Goh, an IT Operations & project Co-ordinator at Diners Club, said staff rushed to the window after the young woman fell. He said the young woman appeared to have had her teeth smashed out, as "her mouth was full of blood" and blood was also gushing from a head wound under her helmet. A Department of Labour spokeswoman said they had been notified of the incident and would be making enquiries.

Lion leases the four-storey building. Lion external relations director Liz Read said staff rushed to her aid. "We were there helping until emergency services arrived," She said. "It's obviously a terrible accident and people are extremely concerned for her condition." Police attended the scene and described the young woman's injuries as severe. "There will obviously be an investigation and we'll contribute what we can based on what people see, however I can not comment on what may have caused the fall."

Jones Lang Lasalle own the building. No one from the real estate company was available to comment at this stage. It is the third serious fall by an abseiler in nine months. A performer miraculously survived a 14-metre fall in central Auckland in December. Mikaela Blayney, 20, was abseiling during a Vertical Pedestrians show in Aotea Square when she fell to the ground while hanging from the side of the Metro Centre. She suffered fractures in her jaw, cheek bone, and leg.

A parked car broke the fall of an abseiling window cleaner who fell several stories from a building in central Wellington in June. The man, in his 30s, fell from the 5th floor of an office building from the rope where he was working at 12.18pm. He suffered leg and lower back injuries.