HomeOwners Risking Their Lives Cleaning Windows

Woman survives fall from fifth storey, Singapore: A woman owes her life to a wooden shelter at the bottom of an HDB block after it broke her fall from the fifth storey. The plywood roof of the shelter broke on impact and she crashed to the ground. But it slowed down her fall enough for her to escape with a fractured leg.

A man who wanted to be known only as Mr Tan, said he heard a loud thud and walked over quickly to find out what happened. He saw the woman lying on the pavement at the foot of Block 209 at Bukit Batok Street 21. He said she waved at him, as if asking him to go to her, reported Shin Min Daily News.

Noticing that the windows on the fifth storey were open, Mr Tan, 90, asked the woman if she fell from there. She replied yes, but said she didn't know how she had fallen. The incident happened at about 4pm on Monday.

The woman, who is in her 60s, is believed to have lost her footing while cleaning the windows of her living room. There was a small cabinet below the open windows of the woman's flat and she is believed to have been standing on it when she fell. A piece of cloth was found near the window.

Bleeding: Mr Tan said the woman was lying on her back when he found her. She was bleeding from her forehead and from the back of her head. But she was able to sit up on her own and seemed alert, said Mr Tan. She left bloody handprints on the concrete floor when she supported herself to sit up.

A police spokesman said the woman was taken conscious to the National University Hospital, where she remains warded. Police investigations are ongoing. Neighbours said that the woman worked as a nurse before becoming a church volunteer.

Her son, who declined to be named, told Shin Min Daily News at the hospital that she was fine except for a fractured leg, and that she was still weak and unable to say much. She had been alone at home when the incident occurred and the family is still not sure why she fell. The son added that he was thankful that the wooden shelter had helped to break his mother's fall.

Window Cleaner Sleep-Walks off 5th Floor

Miracle recovery after hotel balcony sleepwalk plunge: MIRACLE man Dale Beckett jogs down the street . . . just one year after sleepwalking off a hotel balcony and plunging 70ft. It’s a day the 24-year-old thought he’d never see following the freak accident in Spain that left him fighting for his life. But he has overcome horrific injuries and, after spending months confined to a wheelchair, is determined to put the past behind him.
Window cleaner Dale, of Stanley, County Durham, fell from the fifth floor of a Malaga hotel last September during a break to celebrate his uncle’s stag do. Incredibly, he landed on the only patch of soft grass below his balcony, where a flagstone had been moved from a paved area.
Nevertheless, when friends and family found him, he was barely alive. He broke both legs and suffered a shattered left foot, cracked a hip joint and two ribs. He also punctured both lungs and had internal bleeding in his spleen and kidneys. He said: “I’m lucky to be here. I just remember waking up in the hospital four days later with lots of tubes coming out of me. I looked at my friend’s face and he was horrified.
“When he found me, my legs had snapped in the wrong direction, my foot was splattered and I had blood coming out of my mouth. “Just before it happened I remember saying to my friend that I bet I would sleepwalk and jump off the balcony. Then in the night, he heard a smash and saw me jump over the edge. He said that I had jumped up and started screaming, picked up the table and threw it over the balcony, then ran and jumped over it myself. “But I couldn’t remember a thing about it. I didn’t know what had happened to me.” However, although Dale has made great progress — and is even looking forward to returning to college after being forced to sell his window cleaning business due to the accident — his troubles are far from over. He explained: “It could take until next September for my bones to heal properly, but when I get the all clear I’m going to set up a business again and take a photography course. “Up until a month ago I could only just walk but I went out for my first jog the other day. “I want to get fit again, so I’m going to go for a run every few days. I started swimming about a month ago as well. I’ve got a few nuts and bolts in my left knee, but my right leg seems to be as strong as ever.” Dale has deep scars on his left knee and ankle where doctors put metal pins into his bones to rebuild his shattered leg. He was told that if it had not been for the Spanish doctors who saved his life, his right foot would have been amputated. Dale admits he still worries about his habit of sleepwalking and fears a similar accident could occur in the future. He said: “There’s no way I want to stay in a hotel again, but if I have to I’ll be staying on the ground floor or in a villa.”