Even thinking about being inside a small space makes people squirm, let alone being trapped inside for several hours. A customer accessing a safety deposit box at a New York business ended up being locked inside a vault for more than 10 hours while firefighters worked to free the man.
According to the New York Fire Department, the vault was located in the basement of World Diamond Tower, which is owned by DGA Security and is used by several Diamond District businesses. A man was accessing his safety deposit box when unaware employees closed the door on him, trapping him inside.
Firefighters were called to the scene and were able to communicate with the man via security cameras and a phone system. They quickly realized that the vault was on a timer lock and couldn’t be opened by employees until the time ran out.
Firefighters first attempted to cut through a concrete wall to get into the vault but stopped when they reached metal plating because they feared further efforts would possibly injure the man inside. They decided to wait for the timer to run out since the man was not in danger of running out of oxygen.
The customer was finally freed when the time lock opened at 6:15 a.m. the next day. He was promptly examined by EMS at the scene before being sent home after an interesting night out.
Source: https://abc7ny.com/man-trapped-midtown-jewelry-store-safe/13968834/