A missing New York University student was found trapped in a 2-foot-wide shaft between a building and parking garage.
NBC reported that 19-year-old Asher Vongtau fell and was trapped in a narrow gap between a dorm and neighboring parking garage.
Vongtau’s friends reported him missing early Sunday, when they tried to contact him and could not.
“I was one of the last ones to see him… He left my dorm at 7 am Saturday. I texted him later that day, but he never responded,” said 19-year-old Michael Yablon.
According to NY Daily News Yablon and a few friends began knocking dorm-to-dorm asking if anyone had seen Vongtau and alerted security.
One student said they saw Yablon running up the stairs. Security went to the roof and saw Vongtau’s cell phone, but called police when they heard the young man calling for help.
Vongtau was rescued by firefighters from the wide shaft, but suffered a fractured skull, pelvis, and arm along with contusions to his spleen and liver. He was taken to Bellevue Hospital in serious condition.
His mother Habiba Vongatu spoke to the Daily News about her panic when she was alerted, fearing the worst, “So many thoughts went through my head: Did he get hit by a car? Did he get attacked? Was he lying somewhere hurt? It was just crazy.”
How Vongtau ended up between the building and parking garage is unknown, but luckily the young man was is alive.
The New York Fire Department (FDNY) tweeted a picture of the rescue:
#FDNY FFs breached wall at 80 Lafayette St, #Manhattan, to remove man who was trapped between buildings. pic.twitter.com/nbME4bwt1A
— FDNY (@FDNY) November 4, 2013
Video courtesy ofNBC.