Via Chron
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Three window-washers were pulled to safety Friday after the platform they were working on at a New Orleans high-rise gave way, leaving them dangling from the building’s 49th floor on safety harnesses for about 20 minutes.
Rescuers were called to the 53-story Capitol One building on St. Charles Avenue in the business district after the platform gave way shortly after 8:30 a.m.
Jorge Gomez, 58, said there was no warning before one of the cables supporting the platform from the rooftop gave way.
He said he started praying. “I said to myself, dear Jesus please don’t let me die.”
Gomez said he and the other men, Willis Everidge, 55, and Kevin Hines, 46, all of New Orleans, were washing windows for Acme Window Cleaners at the building’s 49th-floor level when the cable snapped. All were thrown from the platform and began swinging above the street on the building’s east side. The building fronts the St. Charles Avenue streetcar line.
“It happened so fast, in about two seconds. There was no warning. It was like jumping out of an airplane,” Everidge said.
