10.01.2008

Tower crane rescue

Firefighters in Buckhead, Atlanta carried out a dramatic rescue yesterday after a tower crane operator blacked out in his cab roughly 75 metres up.
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The crane operator having been removed from the cab, is strapped to a special stretcher

The man was extracted from his cab and strapped to a special mountain rescue type of stretcher, before being slowly lowered down the side of the crane with a rope rescue system to a waiting ambulance.
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The operator is carefully lowered over the side

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And lowered down on ropes

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To the ground

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And into the waiting ambulance

We have no reports of his condition.
See raw video footage of the rescue

Vertikal Comment

There has been a lot of discussion about how to rescue crane operators that are subject to an emergency in their cab. The options though come down to three, an aerial work platform or ladder tower, lowering with rope access equipment as in this case and finally using a helicopter.

This rescue was a text book one and the emergency rescue crew clearly knew what they were doing. It is though not the fastest rescue method.