The 16-year-old boy who plunged 50 feet down a New York City bridge shaft Monday night while filming a TikTok prank is recovering in the hospital after being hoisted to safety by a squad of more than 70 firefighters and first responders.
The teen was rushed to the Weill Cornell Medical Center in a critical condition, but is now stable, FDNY officials told the Mercury News.
Dramatic pictures show the boy being lifted from the shaft on one of the buttresses of the Queensboro Bridge as responders carried out the rescue mission.
“This was a confined-space operation, which is a very difficult, time-consuming, manpower-intensive operation,” FDNY Deputy Chief Nicholas Corrado told reporters.
“It involves high-angle equipment, ropes, we have to monitor the air, and create high points.”
Around 75 FDNY and first responders rushed to the bridge after receiving a 911 call where they found the teen stuck in the shaft – with one firefighter recalling the commotion at the scene.
“The adrenaline that was felt, it was moving. But this is what we train for,” Khalid Lee told WABC.
It took crews some time to find the boy, but they discovered a shoe and blood at the scene.
“Once I saw the shoe and the blood, I just relayed that information to the rest of the members on the scene so we could all get the ball rolling on what we were going to use to retrieve this victim once we laid eyes on him,” Lee added.
A woman, who knew the boy, claimed he was climbing the bridge with his pals but they deserted him after the plunge.
It’s not clear how the boy fell down the shaft.
TikTok has come under criticism after potentially dangerous stunts appeared on the platform.