Another Window Cleaning Fall To Death & Rescue

An Indonesian domestic helper plunged to her death on Thursday morning while wiping windows in a 27th-floor public housing flat in Wong Tai Sin.

An Indonesian domestic helper plunged to her death on Thursday morning while wiping windows in a 27th-floor public housing flat in Wong Tai Sin. The woman, 28, accidentally fell out of a kitchen window at Cheung Yuen House, Chuk Yuen North estate, at about 9.30am and landed on the first-floor podium of the building, police said. The maid was declared dead at the scene, a police spokesman said. “Her 87-year-old female employer told police that the maid fell down by accident while cleaning windows in the kitchen,” a police officer said. An initial investigation found nothing suspicious, he said. It is believed that the woman arrived in Hong Kong for work earlier this month. The city has seen similar domestic accidents involving foreign helpers. 

Policemen set up a perimeter at the residence of the woman who allegedly tortured Indonesian maid Erwiana Sulistyaningsih in Hong Kong January 21, 2014. A foreign maid died today after she fell from a high-rise while cleaning windows.

In August, an Indonesian domestic helper, 32, and an 18-month-old boy fell from a 19th-floor flat in Yau Tong. Police believed the maid was carrying the toddler as she collected laundry from a clothing rack outside the window, but lost her balance. In February 2011, an Indonesian helper, 35, fell out of a 22nd-floor flat while cleaning a window in a Sha Tin flat. She landed on a podium and was declared dead at Prince of Wales Hospital. The city is home to 300,000 domestic helpers, mostly from Indonesia or the Philippines.

Law Wan-tung, 2nd left, who has been charged with two counts of wounding, one count of common assault and three counts of criminal intimidation, walks next to her husband, 2nd right, as they leave a court in Hong Kong on January 22, 2014.

Maid falls to death in Hong Kong: A foreign domestic helper aged 28 died on Thursday after falling from a residential building in Hong Kong, police said. They said the helper, whose name and nationality were not given, fell from a building in the Wong Tai Sin district onto a concrete canopy and was certified dead when officers arrived. “It is understood that she fell off while cleaning windows in a flat,” a police statement said, adding the death was not being treated as suspicious.

There have been a series of such deaths over the years in Hong Kong, where most people live in high-rise apartment blocks. Last August an 18-month-old boy and an Indonesian domestic helper fell to their deaths from the 19th-floor flat where they lived. Police said the helper was collecting clothes from a drying rack outside the window. Conditions for the city's 300 000 domestic helpers - mostly from Indonesia or the Philippines - have come under the spotlight recently following cases of abuse. A Hong Kong mother-of-two was charged on Wednesday with a serious assault on her Indonesian domestic helper. Last September a couple were jailed for savagely beating another Indonesian helper.

An undated photograph provided by her family and released by Indonesia's Migrant Care on January 22, 2014 shows Indonesian maid Erwiana Sulistyaningsih (L) and the same girl sitting in a wheelchair (R) at a hospital in the Sragen.

'Tortured' Indonesian maid welcomes arrest:  A woman accused of torturing her former maid was arrested at Hong Kong airport while attempting to board a flight to Thailand. An Indonesian maid has welcomed the arrest of her former Hong Kong employer, who is accused of torturing her, saying she is willing to return to the city to testify in a case that sparked angry protests.

The ex-employer, a Hong Kong mother-of-two, was arrested on Monday and charged two days later with assaulting Erwiana Sulistyaningsih and two other Indonesian maids, after thousands of domestic workers marched in the city to call for justice. "I'm happy. I had hoped the employer would be arrested," 23-year-old Sulistyaningsih told Hong Kong-based Cable Television in an interview broadcast on Thursday. Law Wan-tung, 44, is accused of causing grievous bodily harm to Sulistyaningsih, who is now undergoing hospital treatment in her home country.

Law, who was arrested at Hong Kong airport while attempting to board a flight to Thailand, was also charged with common assault and four counts of criminal intimidation - charges related either to Sulistyaningsih or to her two previous Indonesian domestic helpers. Prosecutors allege that Law turned household items such as a mop, a ruler and a clothes hanger into "weapons" against Sulistyaningsih. "If I get better, I will go back to Hong Kong," Sulistyaningsih told Cable TV from her hospital bed, adding she was unaware her former employer had allegedly abused two other maids.

The Hong Kong broadcaster said she would return to the city to testify in the case but her father has previously said he would not let his daughter return to work overseas. "Looking at how bad the conditions are working abroad, who would?" Rohmat Saputro said. While Sulistyaningsih's situation has improved and is now able to sit up, she remains bedridden and still suffers from headaches and dizziness, according to media reports.

One of her doctors in Indonesia said she was unable to walk following the mistreatment, which included having her head smashed repeatedly against a wall. Amnesty International in November condemned the "slavery-like" conditions faced by thousands of Indonesian domestic helpers in Hong Kong and accused authorities of "inexcusable" inaction.

Elsewhere in Hong Kong, a domestic helper died on Thursday after falling from a residential building. Police said the 28-year-old helper, whose name and nationality were not given, fell from a building in the Wong Tai Sin district onto a concrete canopy and was certified dead when officers arrived. "It is understood that she fell off while cleaning windows in a flat," a police statement said, adding the death was not being treated as suspicious. Last August, an 18-month-old boy and an Indonesian domestic helper fell to their deaths from the 19th-floor flat where they lived. Police said the helper was collecting clothes from a drying rack outside the window.

Stranded window washer rescued on United Plaza Blvd. (Baton Rouge) - The first two fire trucks arrived at 10:41 a.m. and found that the rig, called a bosun’s chair, had jammed, spokesman Eldon Ledoux said. After a ladder truck arrived with a ladder capable of extending up to 107 feet, a firefighter climbed up to the stranded worker, attached the worker’s safety harness to the ladder and helped him down, Ledoux said. “Although, no special or technical rescue techniques were utilized, the equipment and personnel on scene were capable of such a rescue, if needed,” Ledoux said.