Close call in scaffold collapse

From DNA Info:

Firefighters rescued a construction worker left dangling five storeys high after a scaffold collapsed outside a Sunnyside building Monday, officials said.

Stalyn Suauzhanay, 27, was doing facade work on a scaffold at 41-15 45th Street about 11 a.m. when the motor mechanism that supports the lift apparently malfunctioned. That's when the scaffold collapsed, leaving the worker hanging from the fifth-floor window.

"I thought I was going to die," Suauzhanay said.

Shocked neighbors helplessly watched Suauzhanay suspended in air, his feet hanging on to an air-conditioner and a window sill.

Firefighters eventually plucked Suauzhanay, who was wearing a safety harness and tied to lifelines, to safety through the window, officials said.