After scaffolding collapsed at a six-story apartment building in Inwood, four construction workers were left dangling.
The workers, who were repointing windows at the top of the building on Seaman Avenue, near Beak St., had the scaffolding give way beneath them after a cable broke.
The crew was saved first by their harnesses, and then by the FDNY, which responded in minutes. The firefighters pulled two workers in through the window, snatched a third from below, and hoisted the fourth from a rope thrown down from the roof.
Before they were saved, neighbors posted on Facebook that the workers screamed for help, the New York Daily News reported.
Two of the men suffered serious injuries while the other two reported minor ones. All four went to New York Presbyterian/Columbia University Medical Center after the incident.
Construction injuries rose 34 percent to 283 in fiscal year 2015 — the highest level in years — while fatalities rose from six to 11, according the city.
“They were pretty shaken up but they were hanging in there,” FDNY Lt. Bill Caffrey of Ladder Co. 36 told the News. “They were just thanking us for bringing them inside.” [NYDN] — Dusica Sue Malesevic