Police rescue two window cleaners stuck outside building's 13th floor

Police rescue two window cleaners stuck outside building's 13th floor
By Marten Youssef, Staff Reporter GULF NEWS Published: January 31, 2008, 17:20

Abu Dhabi: The Abu Dhabi police team undertook an unconventional and daring rescue on Thursday of two men who were stuck outside the 13th floor while washing the building's windows.

The authorities blamed a power failure on the two men being stuck.

"We had four options. We could try to put electricity back to the building. We could try to reach them with our ladders, through the roof or pull them through the window," Fabian Dyck, a member of the rescue team said.

Hundreds of people watched the rescue attempts outside the Union Bank building on Electra Street. After three failed attempts to reach the two stranded workers using the ladders of fire brigades, the rescue team decided to pull the men through the nearest window.

Third attempt

"This is the third time we tried to reach them but our ladders are just too short," Dyck said.

Just eight metres shy of reaching the two stranded men, the rescue team changed their strategy and handed harnesses to the workers as they pulled them through the window of one of the residents.

The two men were rescued and taken by ambulance to a nearby hospital. Police said there were no physical injuries to the men.