NEW YORK — Two window washers left dangling from the nation’s tallest skyscraper, 1 World Trade Center, were ‘‘doing well’’ after their release from a hospital, their employer said.
Investigators were looking into why a cable developed slack, leaving the workers stuck 68 stories above the street Wednesday afternoon. The two held onto the teetering platform for two agonizing hours, and one called his wife, fearful that it might be his last opportunity to speak to her.
Firefighters used diamond cutters to saw through a double-layered window and pulled the men to safety.
The dramatic rescue, coming a little more than a week after the building officially opened, was followed by throngs of New Yorkers watching from the ground and many more around the world watching on live television.
The window washers, Juan Lizama and Juan Lopez, were working on the south side of the lower Manhattan building when one of the platform’s four cables abruptly gave way, Fire Commissioner Daniel Nigro said. The open-topped platform tilted sharply and swayed slightly between the 68th and 69th floors, he said.