High-rise window men cheat death
TWO window cleaners had a brush with death yesterday afternoon when their gondola collapsed, throwing one out of the rig and leaving the other dangling from the 18th floor.
The two were cleaning windows on the 22-storey Lee Theatre Plaza in Causeway Bay when a motor on their gondola jammed.
Tsoi Kai-hong, 31, was thrown out of the rig as one side slid down two floors, leaving the platform hanging almost vertically.
Using his lifeline, Mr Tsoi slid down the side of the building to safety while his colleague, 41-year-old Joseph Pereira, clung on to the gondola swinging from the 18th floor.
Mr Pereira waited 11/2 hours for Fire Services officers to lower a second gondola. He then unlocked his safety harness and climbed on to the rescue rig. 'I thought my colleague was dead,' he said. 'I was not worried about my life as I knew how to balance myself.'
