Firefighters, elite SCDF squad rescue injured worker stuck on tower crane
A man who was working on a tower crane 70m in the air had injured his leg and was unable to climb down to safety. (Photo: Singapore Civil Defence Force)
SINGAPORE: An injured man unable to descend from a tower crane he was working on was brought down to safety by firefighters and members of an elite rescue squad on Friday (Nov 12) night.
Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) firefighters and specialists from the Disaster Assistance and Rescue Team (DART) were deployed at about 8.45pm to a construction site along Beach Road, said the SCDF in a Facebook post on Saturday, describing the operation.
Initially, two firefighters climbed up a cat ladder to reach the injured man who was lying on a platform. The firefighters, assessing that the man could have broken his leg, bandaged and immobilised the injured limb as part of preparation for a height rescue operation.
Two DART specialists then climbed up the crane, which reached a height of 70m, according to the post. The two men set up a height lowering system involving ropes and pulleys while another team of DART specialists prepared the area on the ground to receive the injured worker.
He was then lowered in his stretcher using a Power Ascender, a portable device that allows a rescuer to ascend and descend with a casualty.
Once on the ground, an SCDF ambulance crew assessed him before sending him to Singapore General Hospital.
