NY Post – August 21, 2014
by Erin Calabrese, Shawn Cohen and Daniel Prendergast
Firefighters went underground Wednesday in the dramatic rescue of a construction worker who suffered a broken leg in the Second Avenue Subway tunnel, officials said. The incident happened at about 3:30 p.m. as the man was pouring concrete 100 feet below Second Avenue and 83rd Street, according to the FDNY.
A huge pipe from a mixer broke off, crushing the worker’s leg and trapping him, according to MTA and FDNY officials.
Firefighters and medics descended and found the worker in agony under the massive pipe.
“We had to go into a very treacherous area to get him out,” said an FDNY spokesman, adding that members of the department’s elite Haztec Unit worked 45 minutes to free the victim’s leg.
They also used a crane to lower a rescue basket into the pit, strapped the worker onto it and lifted him to safety.
He was at New York-Presbyterian Hospital in stable condition.
Last year in another stretch of the tunnel, a worker nearly died when he got stuck in a mud pit.
It took firefighters about four hours to free him.
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