A jewellery store customer was trapped in a locked vault in the Diamond District for about 10 hours overnight — only to be freed when the doors opened on a timer.
The 23-year-old man became trapped in the vault at 580 Fifth Avenue, which houses several small jewellery stores and vaults, shortly after 8 p.m. Tuesday, New York Fire Department officials said.
He was checking his safe deposit box when the door to the room was locked from the outside – trapping him in a 20-by-40-foot space.
The room was on a time lock and was not scheduled to reopen until the next morning.
Firefighters responded and cut through about 30 inches of concrete wall to free the man. But after about 10 hours of rescue work, they reached metal panels that would have required torches to cut through.
Not wanting to create unnecessary smoke and fumes in the confined space, the firefighters decided to wait for the door to open automatically.
It opened automatically at around 6.15am, freeing the man.
He is being evaluated but appears to be physically OK, officials said.
Firefighters said the safe room “was closed by the people who own the vault. once the door is closed after 7 p.m., it locks automatically. its on a timer mechanism. it does not reopen until a certain amount of time has passed.”
They were talking to the man on the phone all the time and had CCTV showing him entering.
