Don't leave me hanging: Dangling window cleaners rescued from World Trade Centre

Two window washers trapped on a scaffold dangling over Manhattan, nearly 70 storeys up the 1 World Trade Centre tower, were rescued by firefighters who sliced through a window to reach them.

The dramatic rescue on Wednesday, coming a little more than a week after the tallest building in the United States officially opened, was followed by throngs of New Yorkers on the ground and many more around the world watching on live television news services.

The window washers, Juan Lizama and Juan Lopez, were working on the building's south side early in the afternoon when one of the platform's four cables developed slack, Fire Commissioner Daniel Nigro said. The open-topped platform tilted sharply and swayed slightly in the wind between the 68th and 69th floors, he said.

About 100 firefighters rushed to the skyscraper, some lowering ropes from the roof so the workers could secure themselves and a two-way radio for them to communicate, Nigro said. The workers also were harnessed to the platform.

Firefighters first used diamond cutters to saw through part of a two-layered glass window on the 68th floor. They shattered the thick glass, pulling the broken pieces into the building.

Firefighters also began edging another scaffold down the building as a back-up plan, but brought the workers to safety through the window hole.