What to Know
- A man got trapped overnight inside a steel-reinforced concrete jewelry vault in a midtown Manhattan building known as the World Diamond Tower, after he tried to access his safe deposit box
- The building at 580 Fifth Avenue, where the man got stuck inside the vault, is known as the World Diamond Tower and houses several jewelry businesses
- After about 10 hours, Sarrocco said, the firefighters reached the steel plating and decided to hold off going any further, fearing their rescue attempts could harm the man trapped inside. Fortunately, the vault was on a timer and opened on its own Wednesday morning, officials said.
A man was trapped inside a steel-reinforced concrete jewelry vault in Manhattan overnight after firefighters had to abandon an attempt to rescue him for safety reasons. Fortunately, the vault was on a timer and opened on its own Wednesday morning, officials said.
The fire department was called to the midtown building Tuesday evening after the man became trapped while trying to access his safe deposit box, Assistant Fire Chief John Sarrocco said. The building at 580 Fifth Avenue is known as the World Diamond Tower and houses several jewelry businesses.
Around 8:45 p.m. Tuesday, authorities said a man was reaching into his safety deposit box inside the vault when an employee closed the doors, not knowing someone was still inside. The vault also has a timed lock mechanism, meaning it locks automatically after a certain time and does not reopen until the next morning.
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"I usually use that vault, its huge, so I can understand how it happened," said Don Palmieri, of the Gem Certification Lab. "He was probably spending a little too much time inside going through the contents of his safe deposit box."
Fire and police department personnel were in communication with the man inside the vault and could watch him on a security camera. They were also able to talk to him via telephone. There was also plenty of air inside because the vault, which measures 20 feet long by 40 feet wide, has its own HVAC system.
Sarrocco said the fire department's rescue units have tools that would be able to break through the vault's 30-inch steel-reinforced concrete walls.
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“The process was started to breach the wall at the vault,” he said in a news conference at the scene.
After about 10 hours, Sarrocco said, the firefighters got through more than two feet of concrete and reached the steel plating. But they decided to hold off going any further, fearing their rescue attempts could harm the man trapped inside.
“The problem with the plating is we’d have to use our torches," he said, “which would affect the environment for that person inside the vault.”
The doors opened as scheduled after 6 a.m. and the man was freed unharmed, Sarrocco said. The man was checked out and appeared to be fine. He declined to talk to reporters about his night inside the vault.
DGA Systems, which manages the vault, declined to comment.
